Shock back in Arena to take on rebuilt, rejuvenated Hawks

Spokane has defeated the Everett Hawks twice this season, but that’s of little comfort to Shock coach Chris Siegfried.

Siegfried is more concerned about the current Hawks, who look nothing like the squad Spokane defeated 44-41 and 58-29 before the calendar hit mid-May. Stung by a 0-7 start, the Hawks changed coaches, quarterbacks and various other personnel to rally for four wins in their last seven outings, which should make for an interesting arenafootball2 contest tonight at 7 at the Spokane Arena.

“Everett is a lot better than they were,” Siegfried said. “They’re just playing a much cleaner brand of football.”

The Hawks (4-10) would still be in the playoff chase, but they missed a potential game-tying field goal with 4 seconds left and fell to Green Bay 55-52 last week. Top-ranked Spokane (12-2) has clinched a division title and a bye in the first round of the playoffs.

“I’m just looking for the continued consistency and I want us to stay injury-free,” Siegfried said. “The production on offense needs to continue and our defense and special teams have been stepping up. We’re a much improved team since the last time we played them, but so are they.”

Among Everett’s new faces are head coach Tony Wells, quarterback Brian Baker and receiver J.R. Thomas. Wells replaced Rickey Foggie in May. The 6-foot-6 Baker, Everett’s fourth starting quarterback this season, tossed eight touchdown passes against Green Bay, four of those going to the speedy Thomas, who was acquired last month after being released by Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

Siegfried said Everett has improved its talent base, but the biggest upgrade came with the addition of Wells.

“There have been a few (af2) teams in the past where we almost coached together,” Siegfried said. “He’s a good coach and I respect him a lot.”

Notes

Spokane’s roster has seen major revisions, too, since it last saw Everett. Kyle Rowley has replaced Alex Neist as the starting quarterback and led Spokane to wins of 23, 43 and 19 points, respectively. Neist had 10 touchdown passes in two wins over Everett. Other key additions include linemen Ed Ta’amu and Katon Bethay and defensive backs Isaiah Trufant and Jesse Hendrix. … Defensive back Anthony Griffin (abdominal strain) is expected to miss his second straight game. … Everett’s Baker was a backup quarterback on the 2004 Cape Fear team coached by Siegfried. … About 750 tickets were available as of 1 p.m. Friday. … The league announced, as expected, that Puerto Rico will be the site of the ArenaCup, the af2 championship game, on Aug. 26.