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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Shock won’t look past Amarillo

As Spokane Shock coach Adam Shackleford will tell you, looks can be deceiving.

The Spokane Shock play their first non-division game since April 21st when they meet the Amarillo Dusters – a team the Shock defeated twice last season – tonight at the Amarillo Civic Center with a chance to lock up the Western Division crown.

Don’t let the Dusters’ 3-11 record deceive you. They are a team that won’t make it easy for the Shock (10-4), who earned a playoff berth with last week’s win over the Tri-Cities Fever. The victory secured at least one home game in the postseason.

“We’ve got Amarillo next and their record doesn’t accurately portray what they are capable of doing,” Shackleford said after last week’s game at the Arena. “It’s not a game we can take lightly, they are a very good football team.”

Though the Dusters have lost four of their last six games, they scored a major upset three weeks ago when they defeated Bossier City (10-4) 51-48.

“They are a very athletic team,” Shock assistant coach Alex Sirianni said. “If you sleep on them, they will step on you.”

In the game against the Battle Wings, Amarillo quarterback Steve Panella threw three touchdown passes and ran for four more.

Since then the Dusters have dropped their last two games, against the Tri-Cities and last week against the Corpus Christi Sharks (4-10).

Panella leads the Dusters in rushing with 260 yards and 21 touchdowns and has passed for 53 touchdowns while completing 53 percent of his passes. Steve Bergeski leads the Duster receivers with 1,326 yards.

The key for Spokane will be what it has been all along – protect quarterback Andrico Hines.

Hines will face a secondary led by Aaron Williams, who has seven interceptions and has returned three of them for touchdowns.

“We need to take care of the football,” Shackleford said. “In the games that they’ve won, they’ve created big turnovers.”

The Shock will be without wide receiver Raul Vijil, who aggravated his nagging ankle injury early in last week’s contest against Tri-Cities.

Antwone Savage will lead the Shock receiving corps that includes Kelvin Dickens and Chico Mackey as he continues to solidify his position as one of the league’s top receivers. Savage is third in the league in scoring with 39 touchdowns and 234 points, and has accumulated 2,179 all-purpose yards and 1,401 receiving yards on 108 catches.

The Shock secondary will continue to be a critical force in the Shock’s lineup. Defensive back Rob Keefe’s team-leading nine interceptions puts him in a three-way tie for the fourth-best total in the league and Alex Teems is tied for fifth in the league with 31 total passes defended.