Empire notes: Practice looks a lot like game day

Spokane Empire coach Adam Shackleford calls it playing with an “edge.” Linebacker Nick Haag calls it “motor.” Offensive lineman Dave Lefotu calls it “winning on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.”

Attend virtually any Empire practice and there is bound to be a dust-up: An offensive lineman mixing up it up with a defensive counterpart for a second or two after the whistle, or verbal jousting between a receiver and defensive back. Very few downs go by without some give-and-take from the players.

At a recent practice, the field was split roughly in half with the offensive and defensive fronts going at it in power run drills while defensive backs and receivers matched up at the other end. The DBs and WRs finished first and one defensive back quickly walked to the opposite end and yelled at the linemen, “Who’s winning?”

“What I like about it is we play and practice with an edge, then we go to lunch right after and they all sit down together and laugh and smile,” said Shackleford, whose squad visits Tri-Cities on Saturday. “We’re a close team but these guys push each other, just like my brother and I did growing up and like my kids do now.

“They know if they can get under this guy’s skin a little and get him to practice a little harder he’s going to play a little harder on Saturday. As long as we’re not over the edge, I think it’s a good thing.”

Half speed doesn’t seem to be an option for the high-energy Haag, who leads the Empire with 47.5 tackles and eight tackles for loss.

“We have a bunch of high-character guys and we have motor. With those two things on a football team it creates a great edge,” Haag said. “We come out every day like it’s game day and we challenge each other.”

The trick is to compete without bringing injury into the equation.

“You don’t just show up on Saturday and wish for the best,” Lefotu said. “We make sure we’re giving 100 percent, we take care of each other but we’re going as hard as we can without getting people hurt.

“Coach Shack has to tell us to calm down sometimes because we want to get after it. It’s a great feeling to be around a group of men like this.”

Excused absence

JJ Hayes missed Saturday’s win over Iowa but he had a good excuse. Hayes was taking an exam as part of the Chicago police department academy. Coach Adam Shackleford knew Hayes wouldn’t be available for the game when he signed the veteran receiver.

“I studied for that exam for a month and normally when you take a test you’re freaking out, thinking, ‘Is anything I studied going to be on the test?’ ” Hayes said. “As soon as I opened the packet, it looked a lot like the practice exam. I walked out of there with a lot of confidence.”

Hayes said he’ll probably take the academy’s fitness test after the season.

“My first dream was always football,” he said. “My next dream was to be a detective but you have to be a police officer first. You always have to have a backup plan.”

Hayes is originally from Texas but he’s lived in Chicago for about three years.

Long trip

Spokane didn’t arrive in Des Moines, Iowa, until 1:30 a.m. on Saturday because of travel delays in Denver. The team’s return flights were canceled on Sunday. They split into two groups, with one returning on Monday at 1 p.m. and the other arriving at 11 p.m.

Spokane (5-1) set aside the travel issues to post a 54-34 win over Iowa, two weeks after edging the visiting Barnstormers 54-51.

“Pretty crazy,” quarterback Charles Dowdell said. “We had a lot of adversity even before we touched foot in Iowa. We watched film at the airport and took advantage of the time we had together.”

Shackleford said the team had meetings and a pool workout when they were stuck in Des Moines.