Spokane rallies to earn wild victory

KENNEWICK – This one was off the charts for craziness, which isn’t easy to do because that’s one of arenafootball2’s calling cards.

Penalties, turnovers, ejections, punches, shoving, taunting, a bunch more penalties and ultimately a couple of interception returns for touchdowns – one that counted and one that didn’t – turned the outcome Spokane’s way.

The Shock erased a nine-point halftime deficit by scoring on all of its second-half possessions and tacking on another score on Sergio Gilliam’s interception return to post a 55-51 victory over the Tri-Cities Fever in front of an announced crowd of 4,089 Sunday at the Toyota Center.

The momentum shifted dramatically on the last play of the first half. Spokane, trailing 30-21, had the ball at its 9-yard line with 3.9 seconds left when Jason Murrietta floated a long pass down the sideline. The Fever’s LaRue Burley intercepted the ball near the goal line, weaved his way downfield and dove in for an apparent touchdown. In the midst of a wild celebration, a couple of penalty flags were tossed. The officials huddled, announced the ejection of Tri-Cities’ Charles Bryant and Spokane’s Palauni Ma Sun for throwing punches and then stunned the Fever bench by waving off the touchdown.

This, of course, led to differing opinions from the coaches.

“They said it happened before the ball was thrown, but nobody saw it until right here (pointing to the site of the post-play celebration),” said Tri-Cities’ Cedric Walker, whose team dropped to 0-2. “It was something I’ve never heard before. I’m going to talk to the league about it.”

Said Spokane’s Adam Shackleford: “We needed a spark. That was certainly deflating for Tri-Cities and we talked at half about trying to build off the momentum. Since it was during the play, they offset and that play is a dead play. The interception still counts (in the stats), but it’s a dead play because it was at the end of the half.”

The second-ranked Shock (3-0) dominated the second half. After struggling in pass protection in the first half, the Shock plugged in defensive players Kevin McCullough and Devon Parks up front and moved the ball efficiently.

Spokane took its first lead, 42-37, on Murrietta’s 1-yard sneak with 10:28 remaining. Tri-Cities answered when backup quarterback John Pierce, filling in for the injured Jason Campbell, scrambled for an 8-yard TD with 6:12 left.

The Shock went back in front on Murrietta’s 1-yard keeper and added an insurance touchdown when Gilliam picked off a pass and returned it 30 yards for a touchdown with 24.1 seconds left.

“It was a crazy game, but I think it’s a game that really defines us,” said Murrietta, who finished with five TD passes. “Being down, not playing well, but we stayed together and we wanted it more in the second half. We needed to score on every drive in the second half and we did it and the defense was clutch.”

Spokane had issues beyond the ejections of Ma Sun and Harrison Nikolao. The Shock had their first lost fumble of the season. The Shock committed 12 penalties for 151 yards. In two previous games, they had seven penalties for 45 yards. They gave up three quarterback sacks in the first quarter after allowing none in the prior eight quarters. But Tri-Cities matched Spokane miscue for miscue, committing 11 penalties and losing two players to ejection.

“It got too dirty, no doubt about it,” said Shock receiver Andy Olson, who had three touchdown catches. “I hate to see it when the players act on emotion instead of being respectful to the other players. It was unfortunate, but that’s what happens sometimes with a rivalry.”

Raul Vijil, who played at nearby Pasco High, and defensive back Roshawn Marshall were battling sickness. Vijil had five catches, but “was absolutely dead in the second half,” Shackleford said. Marshall played the whole game and came up with an interception.

Spokane’s defense put steady pressure on Pierce and Campbell, who left in the fourth quarter with a shoulder injury after being tackled by Justin Warren. The secondary tightened its coverage in the second half.

“In the first half, I’ll be honest, our defensive backs were being real lazy and we weren’t getting the checks in on time and there were a lot of blown coverages,” Marshall said. “We came out and made plays in the second half.”

Spokane has a bye this week before facing Central Valley.