Spokane turned a close game into a rout, burying Wilkes-Barre/Scranton 74-27 with a dominating second half. The Shock (19-1) scored 41 unanswered points to open the second half, wiping out a 21-20 halftime deficit.

The Shock captured their second ArenaCup championship in the franchise’s four-year history. Spokane defeated the Pioneers 56-52 in July, but this one was over by late in the third quarter.

My unedited game story is below.

ArenaCup media day came and went. As I expected, there are two beat writers here (me and a guy from a paper back East) and a couple of television/radio crews. Not quite like the press gathering at Super Bowl XL in Detroit a few years ago! I think there were 2,000 of us in a hotel ballroom for the Rolling Stones Q & A.

Both teams played nice in front of the cameras and tape recorders, but players on both sides recall a lot of yakking from the July contest won by Spokane 56-52. Still, words probably won’t matter much in the rematch. Execution, turnovers and pass rush will.

Read on for my unedited game advance. (That’s Andy Olson pictured from the first game with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton).

Back with a notebook that will run in Friday’s S-R. The unedited version is below. I fly to Las Vegas in the morning and will post a game advance later in the day.

I put together a notebook after attending Shock practice Wednesday at the Arena. Some injury news (that’s Jeff Van Orsow pictured above) to catch up on and an update on where the ArenaCup might be played. Find the article here.

The Spokane Shock’s 56-55 loss to visiting Tennessee Valley in the 2008 ArenaCup was voted the top arenafootball2 game in the league’s 10-year history.

More here and here. (Pictured above is Spokane’s Kyle Young leaving the field after the ArenaCup).