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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Voice Of Shadow Takes A Liking To His New Calling

Dave Trimmer Staff Writer

Jay Stewart’s excellent summer adventure has a chance for a perfect ending.

Of course, it could turn out to be a nightmare - or anywhere in between for that matter.

Stewart, 21, is the radio play-by-play voice of the Spokane Shadow soccer team.

The Shadow is the host team for the USISL Northern Division Championship Tournament. The winner goes to the Premier League National Championships in Cocoa Beach, Fla.

Obviously, a perfect ending would be the championship. A great ending would be a trip to Florida. A good ending means the Shadow beat the Puget Sound Hammers on Saturday at Spokane Falls Community College to advance to Sunday’s final against the San Francisco Bay Seals-Colorado Springs Stampede winner.

The Shadow (12-2 in league, 17-3 overall) plays Puget Sound (8-6, 11-9) at 6 p.m., followed by the Seals (10-4, 15-5) and Stampede (9-5, 12-6) at 8. The winners play Sunday at 8.

The Score, KTRW 970-AM will broadcast the Shadow game on Saturday and the championship game no matter what.

That’s what scares Stewart.

“I don’t know how excited you can get watching (a game that doesn’t involve the Shadow),” he admitted. “It would be tough doing two (new) teams. …”

The 1992 graduate of North Central works for Brett Sports and has done some fill-in broadcasting of Greater Spokane League football and basketball. The Shadow was his chance to have his own team.

“Coming into the year I didn’t know what to expect with soccer,” said Stewart, the public address announcer for the Spokane Chiefs and Spokane Indians the last three years. “It’s really been a learning experience. Everybody’s been real patient with me. The management and the players have kind of walked me through.”

Many uniforms don’t have numbers on the front, making it hard to identify players he doesn’t already know and because there is only a halftime break it’s hard to work in the color commentator and sponsors.

“It’s completely different than doing any other sport because the way we do it, it’s 45 minutes of uninterrupted soccer,” he said. “You have to concentrate a lot harder. There are so many players on the field … you have to get each guy’s name right.

“Really, the toughest thing for me is when the game gets in middle stages and ball is being kicked around midfield and touched by lot of different players. You have to think of different ways to say the same thing and on (battles for loose balls) you have to stay a step behind to see which way it is going to go.”

But, the experience has been worth it, from having his own production to learning that some non-soccer people have listened to the broadcast.

“I miss being out at every ball game and being at baseball,” Stewart said, “but not having to work every night is nice.”

Of course, the Shadow’s success has helped.

“The most rewarding thing is seeing the guys play so well and get this far,” he said. “Doing a winner on the radio is always fun. These guys play tough. They want to win every game. They said from the beginning they wanted to go to Cocoa.”

Corner kicks

Puget Sound played its home games at Peninsula High School in Gig Harbor. The mailing address is Everett. … Colorado Springs is officially the Pikes Peak Stampede! but is referred to as Colorado Springs in the standings. … Last year the San Francisco Bay Seals were known as the San Francisco United Soccer Club “All Blacks” because the players have a tradition of coloring their shoes all black. … The Seals were created to let the All Blacks return to representing SFUSC in the California Premier Soccer Association.

Matt Atencio of Colorado Springs is a native of Richland. He played at Colorado College and tried out for the Shadow this spring before returning to Colorado.

The Black Shoes beat the Stampede 1-0 for the Western Division championship last year. It was the first year in the league for Colorado Springs; San Francisco joined in 1992. Last year was also the first for Puget Sound, which missed the playoffs by a single point. Spokane played an abbreviated exhibition season a year ago.

There are six divisional tournaments to determine the field for the finals in Florida. Four teams have been determined, the host Cocoa Expos, the Central Coast Roadrunners out of San Luis Obispo, Calif., the Mid-Michigan Bucks from Saginaw, and the Omaha, Neb., Flames. … Besides the tournament in Spokane, the Eastern Conference Tournament is this weekend in Jackson, Miss. The Jackson Chargers, who lost 4-3 in Spokane on May 25, are the host and second seed.

, DataTimes