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

Mix-and-match Spokane cruises to title


Leo FenceRoy of the Shock knocks the ball loose from Green Bay receiver Brent Holmes. 
 (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)

HATO REY, Puerto Rico – Unbelievable. And, in the end, unbeatable.

The Spokane Shock completed a magical first year of existence Saturday night with yet another performance that lived up to their name – a stunning rout of the Green Bay Blizzard 57-34 in ArenaCup 2006 without their most decorated player and a roster that seemed to be running out of bodies.

Even with two-way standout Charles Frederick sidelined with a pulled groin muscle after the game’s first series, the Shock blew away the Blizzard with a 34-point second quarter and became the first expansion team in arenafootball2 history to win the championship.

“For it to happen this way is simply unbelievable,” said Shock coach Chris Siegfried, af2’s all-time winningest coach and now the owner of his first championship.

“To battle the adversity we did – the injuries and missing people we had, and then to lose Charles, things could have fallen apart. But still we played our best game, and that’s all I asked of these guys – give me your best game.”

He got it.

The Shock ended the season winners of 17 of 19 games, and while several of their early efforts were skin-of-their-teeth escapes, the title game couldn’t have been a bigger – or more unlikely – romp.

A crowd at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico generously announced at 5,658 – unfamiliar with the game and participants as they were – couldn’t have truly grasped what was unfolding.

The Blizzard was billed as af2’s most physical team, and not only led the league in rushing but had the hottest quarterback in the playoffs in James MacPherson, who was completing 80 percent of his passes.

Spokane, meanwhile, limped into the game without standout defensive specialist Isaiah Trufant, whose hamstring pull never came around, and two-way lineman Jerome Stevens, who was off getting married. Then Frederick, the team’s co-leader in receiving, went down after scoring the game’s first touchdown, and fullback Moa Peaua was ejected in an altercation at the end of the third quarter.

Yet the Shock kept finding answers.

Kevin Beard, often Spokane’s most overlooked receiver, came up with a game-high 13 catches for 122 yards. Offensive specialist Antwone Savage was pressed into defensive duty. Backup quarterback Derrick Crudup turned up at receiver. Jesse Hendrix pulled a lot of two-way time, and almost forgotten defensive back Johnny Lamar took some turns on offense, too.

Eight different players caught passes from quarterback Kyle Rowley, who outplayed MacPherson with a 29-of-36 night for 264 yards.

“Nobody’s a one-position player here,” said Savage. “We’re liable to do anything.”

Green Bay discovered that in the second quarter, and it was a goal-line stop that started it all.

Trailing 14-7 with a first down at the Spokane 7-yard line, the Blizzard took four cracks at putting it in the end zone via the run and came up short each time – Beard making the final stop on MacPherson as Levi Madarieta helped clog up the left side.

“In the huddle, we were saying, ‘Biggest play of the game, biggest play of the season, biggest play of our lives,’ ” said Beard. “We knew that could change the game.”

Though the Blizzard would answer Spokane’s subsequent touchdown (a terrific slant pass to Savage after Beard’s motion had cleared out the defensive traffic) catastrophe was just around the corner.

Beard worked himself ridiculously open on a square-out pattern and hauled in a 20-yard scoring pass from Rowley with a minute to play in the half. Siegfried then went to the trick card up his white sleeve and ordered up an onside kick, which Raul Vijil recovered after it slipped through Lamar’s arms. Three plays later, Savage dragged the middle and lost Green Bay defender Randee Drew to snag a 10-yard scoring pass from Rowley.

Then defensive end Neil Purvis bowled over MacPherson, knocked the ball free and recovered it himself in the end zone – then heaved it far up into the stands as Spokane took a 41-14 halftime lead.

“I thought the ball was gone (downfield) and I just wanted to get a hit on him,” Purvis laughed, “and then I saw it rolling in the corner and thought I’d better go get it.”

Siegfried started to worry some when the Blizzard produced two quick touchdowns to start the second half, sparked by former Washington receiver Gerald Harris. But the Shock came up with two big plays – a fourth-down, play-action pass to Beard for a touchdown and Rob Keefe’s end-zone interception, and the fourth quarter turned into a formality.

“The goal-line stand was huge – for us to be able to stop a big, physical team with a punishing attack really gave our guys a jolt of confidence,” Siegfried said. “In fact, there were three big plays – that, the conversion on fourth down and Neil’s sack and touchdown. We don’t make those and you take away 14 points from us and add seven for them and it’s a different game.”

Maybe – though Rowley wasn’t sure anything extraordinary was required.

“We felt like we were the better team – that if we executed the way we knew we could, we’d win,” he said. “Doing it when you have to, I guess that’s what championship teams do.”