sportsjabber.net

Ontario, Calif. – The Philadelphia Passion captured their second consecutive Eastern Conference Championship in a hard-fought 44-32 victory over the Tampa Breeze as Game MVP Christy Bell (6/6, 115 YDS., 4 TD) excelled before supercharged atmosphere at Citizens Business Bank Arena.

The Passion signal-caller helped the Eastern Conference’s number one seed set the tone early, as she connected with WR Stephanie Orji (2 REC., 27 YDS, 2 TD.) on the second play of the opening drive to vault Philadelphia to an early advantage. Two-and-a-half minutes later, the Passion extended the advantage as Marirose Roach (107 TOTAL YDS., 3 TD) plunged into the end zone.

After Tampa’s Liz Gorman forced a Philadelphia safety to make the score 14-2, the Passion countered as Bell hooked up with Whitney Paronish (2 REC., 50 YDS., TD) on a 20-yard touchdown pass to vault the Passion to a 20-2 lead.

In spite of the increasingly long odds, the Breeze did try to rally late in the first half, as quarterback KK Matheny (15/26, 129 YDS., 3 TD) found Courtney Wilder for a 17-yard catch-and-run to cut the deficit. And then, after a Shelltrice Turner (2 ATT., 16 YDS. TD) rush cut the Philadelphia lead to 20-16 with 2:49 remaining in the first half, it appeared as if the Breeze could possibly ride the wave of momentum into a lead and eventual victory.

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By: Jim Wallin (LFL360.com)