Shock show usual flair

Four years have passed since Chris Siegfried coached arena football in Spokane, but what he witnessed Saturday night must have looked familiar.

Raul Vijil is still catching touchdown passes and Kyle Rowley is still throwing them. The Spokane players connected for seven touchdowns, helping the third-ranked Shock outlast No. 1 Jacksonville 67-57 in an Arena Football League game watched by 10,460 at the Arena.

Spokane improved to 6-2 entering a bye week. The Shock are 11/2 games ahead of Arizona in the West Division. The Sharks dropped to 6-2.

Siegfried, currently the Sharks’ offensive coordinator, coached Spokane to the arenafootball2 title in 2006 with Rowley and Vijil playing key roles.

“They have a good offense,” Siegfried said. “Vijil has always been a great player and he didn’t disappoint tonight.”

Vijil finished with 11 catches for 130 yards. Rowley, despite absorbing some big hits from Jacksonville’s defense, was 20 of 27 for 210 yards and eight TDs.

“They have a great pass rush and I think they have one of the top defenses in the league,” Rowley said. “The key was we knew what we were up against and we were prepared and we executed.”

Spokane took its first lead early in the third quarter on a Rowley-to-Vijil touchdown pass. The lead traded hands until Rowley tossed a 7-yard scoring pass to Vijil with 14:03 left, putting Spokane on top 53-50.

On Jacksonville’s next possession, Kirby Griffin took a screen pass and made a nifty move to fake out two defenders before he was tackled by Alex Teems. The ball squirted loose as Griffin landed and Spokane’s Ben McCombs recovered.

“The tide really turned when they gave the ball to Spokane on the play where the ground caused the fumble,” Siegfried said. “I have to see it on film, but it certainly looked like the ground caused it.”

Rowley fired another TD pass to Vijil to hike Spokane’s lead to 60-50 with 8:13 left. Jacksonville pulled within three on Griffin’s 1-yard TD run with 55.2 seconds left, but Spokane’s William Mulder snagged the ensuing onside kick. The last of Rowley’s seven TD passes to Vijil restored the Shock’s 10-point lead and Teems’ interception sealed Spokane’s fourth straight victory.

“When teams go man, we try to put our smaller guys in motion and let them run,” Rowley said. “The good thing is we have different types of receivers. In the red zone, Huey (Whittaker) can box guys out and go up high for the ball and when we’re backed up we can let our little guys fly and make plays.”

Jacksonville quarterback Aaron Garcia, 39, had six TD passes but was picked off twice.

Garcia, who played two seasons at Washington State University, had five TD passes in the first half as Jacksonville led 35-33.

Shock 67, Sharks 57

Jacksonville	14	21	15	7	—57
Spokane	13	20	14	20	—67

Jac—Harvey 6 pass from Garcia (Sbaccia kick)

Jac—Wilson 6 pass from Garcia (Sbaccia kick)

Spo—Vijil 16 pass from Rowley (Rowan kick)

Spo—McCullough 2 INT ret (kick fail)

Jac—Harvey 4 pass from Garcia (Sbaccia kick)

Spo—Vijil 32 pass from Rowley (kick fail)

Jac—Baker 30 pass from Garcia (Sbaccia kick)

Spo—Payne 54 KICK ret (Rowan kick)

Jac—Baker 11 pass from Garcia (Sbaccia kick)

Spo—Vijil 16 pass from Rowley (Rowan kick)

Spo—Vijil 16 pass from Rowley (Rowan kick)

Jac—Harvey 27 pass from Garcia (Sbaccia kick)

Spo—Whittaker 4 pass from Garcia (Rowan kick)

Jac—Griffin 1 run (Morris run)

Spo—Vijil 7 pass from Rowley (kick fail)

Spo—Vijil 16 pass from Rowley (Rowan kick)

Jac—Griffin 1 run (Sbaccia kick)

Spo—Vijil 9 pass from Rowley (Rowan kick)

	Jac	Spo
First downs	19	13
Rushes-yards	4-5	2-(-1)
Passing yards	265	206
Passes	27-46-2	20-27-0
Fumbles-lost	1-1	1-1
Penalties-yards	8-80	8-43

Individual Statistics

Rushing–Jacksonville, Griffin 4-5. Spokane, Nikolao 2-minus 1.

Passing–Jacksonville, Garcia 27-46-2-275. Spokane, Rowley 20-27-0-210.

Receiving–Jacksonville, Wilson 10-114, Baker 6-70, Harvey 6-58, Willis 2-23, Griffin 2-10. Spokane, Vijil 11-130, Whittaker 6-49, Payne 1-18, Kauleinamoku 2-13.