Shock dust off Arena

Back atop the arenafootball2 rankings, Spokane Shock coach Chris Siegfried acknowledged one unassailable truth:

“Everything’s good when you’re winning,” he said.

And when you’re not, everything’s a 3,000-mile van ride to oblivion, via Spokane.

That’s the itinerary for the Amarillo Dusters, the Shock’s guests tonight at 7 at the Spokane Arena for the next-to-last home game of the af2 regular season.

While the Shock (10-2) attempt to tune up their game for next month’s playoffs – a mission that includes bringing another quarterback up to speed, with the departure of former starter Alex Neist on Friday – the Dusters apparently aren’t kidding themselves about their postseason chances. Though not mathematically eliminated with a 4-8 record, the Dusters will be with one more loss – and they’re already on a five-game losing streak, including an 87-38 humiliation at the hands of Tulsa last week after which coach Steve Perdue told the Amarillo Globe-News, “We quit.”

Which is why they piled into five vans Thursday morning for the 1,500-mile trip to Spokane rather than pop for $15,000 in plane tickets.

“If this were a playoff game or if we were in the thick of the playoff race, we might have approached it differently,” general manager Warren McCarty told the Globe-News.

Siegfried hopes any fatigue the Dusters feel after their long trip “is something we can use to our favor,” but after the Shock’s last encounter with Amarillo, he isn’t counting on it. Spokane beat the Dusters 66-62 back in April – the offensively challenged Dusters’ highest point total of the season.

But that was a few quarterbacks ago. Starter Steve Panella was later lost to a thumb injury and two replacements – including former Shock backup Brian Zbydniewski – have proved ineffective. This week, the Dusters signed Tali Ena – the former Prosser High School star who played at New Mexico – off the practice squad of the Utah Blaze of the Arena Football League.

The Shock are coming off one of their most complete performances of the season, a 46-23 blasting of Arkansas on the road in which Spokane gave up just one second-half score.

“Maybe we caught them at the right time or they caught us at the wrong time,” Siegfried said. “If we continue to have that kind of effort, we’ll be fine, but we’ve had a tendency to play everybody really close. We never know which team is going to show up.”

No more Neist

One player who won’t be showing up is Neist, the quarterback who steered Spokane to a 9-2 record but was replaced as the starter by Kyle Rowley last week. Neist requested his release this week and was placed on recallable reassignment.

“He wants to try his luck elsewhere so we’re not going to hold him up,” Siegfried said. “Alex didn’t feel the situation was going to change and we felt Kyle gives us a better opportunity to win.”

Neist threw for 2,550 yards and 44 touchdowns in his 11 starts, with a completion percentage of 62. Rowley is hitting 74 percent of his attempts, and his quarterback rating of 125.7 is third in the current af2 statistics.

“Kyle played a great game (at Arkansas),” Siegfried said. “I like his composure in the pocket. He makes quick decisions, but he still has the ability to get a feel for the pass rush and make plays on his feet.”

With Neist’s departure, Derrick Crudup becomes the back-up quarterback. Crudup was signed in early May but has yet to throw a pass for the Shock.

D-FenceRoy?

Injuries continue to afflict the Shock secondary, so the team has acquired veteran defensive specialist Leo FenceRoy, with the likelihood that he’ll play tonight.

Anthony Griffin is suffering from a groin strain, and newcomer Isaiah Trufant – like Griffin a former Eastern Washington player – played hurt last week. Johnny Lamar has also been hobbled by an ankle sprain.

FenceRoy has two years of af2 experience and played on two teams this season, Macon and Manchester. He has five interceptions.

“He’s a good player,” Siegfried said. “We’re just trying to keep things patched together.”

Better news on the injury front is the return of receiver/linebacker Kevin Beard, who missed the Arkansas game after an ugly collision with the dasherboards the week before against Albany.

Keefe shares lead

Defensive specialist Rob Keefe, who earned af2 Defensive Player of the Week honors for the third time this season after a pair of interceptions against Arkansas, shares the seasonal lead in that department with Bakersfield’s Alex Wallace. They each have nine.