Shock win exhibition

The Spokane Shock learned early Wednesday afternoon that arenafootball2 league coaches had voted them No. 1 in their annual preseason poll.

Then later that evening, they went out and responded to that early vote of confidence by holding off the visiting Arkansas Twisters and last year’s af2 offensive player of the year Kyle Rowley 35-28 in a messy af2 preseason matchup at the Arena.

Shock quarterback Nick Davila connected with Charles Dillon for a couple of first-quarter touchdown passes and the defense made an early 21-0 lead stand up with some aggressive play up front and excellent coverage in the secondary.

“Overall, I thought we played well,” said second-year Shock coach Adam Shackleford, who substituted early and often in taking a look at all 30 players he had in uniform. “I thought our team defense was outstanding. We knew we had our work cut out for us against the offensive player of the year, and we managed to keep them out of the end zone when Rowley was in there.”

Rowley, a former Spokane player and major contributor to the Shock’s run to the 2006 ArenaCup championship, played just more than a quarter and completed only 8 of 15 passes for 64 yards.

Nick Davila, Spokane’s starting quarterback, wasn’t particularly sharp, either, completing only 5 of 12 passes for 38 yards in his one quarter of work. But two of those completions resulted in touchdowns as the Shock sprinted to an early lead they never relinquished.

“It was OK for an early-season game,” Davila said. “Our receivers did an excellent job of running routes and catching the ball, and the defense was outstanding, too. Our defense is going to be there for us all year, and our offense just needs to get our timing down.

“Still, I think we’re right where we need to be at this point in the season.”

Spokane’s win spoiled the return of second-year Twisters coach Chris Siegfried, who was coaching at the Arena for the first time since leading the Shock to the 2006 ArenaCup championship.

“They definitely beat us with the first team against our first team,” Siegfried said. “We were very sloppy when our first team was in there, but at least everyone came out of it healthy.

“I didn’t have any high expectations other than coming up here and playing a game against an excellent opponent, which we did.”

The Shock scored on their first two possessions and capped both drives with 9-yard scoring passes from Davila to Charles Dillon.

They bumped their lead to 21-0 midway through the second quarter when backup quarterback Casey Hansen shook off a ratty start that included a fumble on his first pass attempt, two delay of game penalties and three straight incompletions by connecting with Patrick Bugg on a 40-yard touchdown pass on a fourth-and-6 play from his 10-yard line.

Spokane’s defense was stifling in the early going and didn’t let Arkansas into the end zone until the final 2 seconds of the first half, when backup Twisters quarterback Bernard Morris capped a short drive with a 9-yard scoring pass to Tyrre Burks.

The Shock got its other two touchdowns on a 7-yard catch from Dillon, who finished the game with four catches for 33 yards and three scores, and a 1-yard run by Sergio Gilliam.

“Charles Dillon is going to play on this football team somewhere,” said Shackleford, who will have to cut his roster to 30 players by Sunday night. “But we’ve got some other tough decisions to make.”

The contest was the only preseason game scheduled for the Shock, who open regular-season play at home April 3 against the Stockton Lightning.