It’s all on the line at Arena

Back in early May, the Spokane Shock figured they would see Bakersfield again.

At that time the Blitz had just thumped the Shock 52-20 in the Arena to forge a first-place tie in the National Conference West Division standings. Since then, the teams have taken different directions – Bakersfield dropped six of eight before rallying to make the playoffs while Spokane rattled off wins in 10 of its next 11 games to emerge as the top-ranked team in arenafootball2.

The Shock (14-2) and Blitz (10-7) collide again tonight with a berth to the National Conference Championship on the line. Game time is 7 at the Arena.

“It has all the makings to be a great game,” Shock coach Chris Siegfried said. “Hopefully, we can do our part and make it a great one.”

Sixth-seeded Bakersfield relies on an aggressive defense. End Jerry Turner led af2 with 16 sacks and Ben McCombs (eight) and Daniel Kegler (7.5) ranked ninth and 10th, respectively.

“Anytime you can rush the passer and create problems it helps,” Bakersfield coach Gary Compton said. “They’ve been able to do it all year. When you have that type of defense, offensively you don’t have to score that many points.”

The Shock have made several personnel changes since the loss to Bakersfield, including the addition of offensive lineman Ed Ta’amu.

“We’re a lot different team than we were the last time we played them,” fullback/linebacker Levi Madarieta said. “We’re better up front. We’re better in a lot of places.”

Spokane is one of af2’s most balanced teams, ranking in the upper half of the league in scoring offense and scoring defense. The Shock have allowed just 11 sacks all season, tied for fourth fewest.

“We were talking about it,” Shock defensive back Rob Keefe said. “We want to go to Puerto Rico (site of the ArenaCup), but we want to go through Bakersfield. We won’t feel that it’s 100 percent domination of the league unless we beat the team that beat us.”

Spokane did beat Bakersfield, 49-45, on the road in Week 2, but the home blowout in May remains a sticking point. For the Blitz, it’s a source of confidence.

“We know we’ll have to fight the rowdy crowd,” Compton said. “I think it helps, knowing that we’ve been there and played well, but that was weeks ago and both teams have changed.”

Siegfried hopes the battle at the line of scrimmage changes from the last meeting.

“It really comes down to execution,” Siegfried said. “Are they going to force us out of our game plan? Or, are we going to be able to dictate what we’re able to run? It all starts up front.”

The Shock will be without defensive back Isaiah Trufant (hamstring). Leo FenceRoy will probably replace Trufant.

“Isaiah isn’t ready,” Siegfried said. “If we’re fortunate enough to advance, he’ll be ready next week.”

Notes

As of Friday morning, there were more than 2,000 tickets still available. “Most of the people I talk to say they’d love to come, but they don’t think there are any tickets left,” Siegfried said. … Bakersfield’s Alex Wallace led af2 with 11 interceptions, one more than Spokane’s Keefe. “No. 22 (Wallace) jams pretty good, but we’ve been working on beating that jam,” Shock receiver Antwone Savage said. “If we beat that jam, we’ll be unstoppable.” … Spokane, which had a first-round bye last week, is 1-1 after byes, losing to Bakersfield and rallying to upend Albany. … The Shock-Blitz winner faces the winner of tonight’s No. 5 Arkansas-vs.-No. 2 Tulsa game.