Shock treatment

Remember the roadrunner? He always figured out a way to beat that darn coyote.

That’s got to be the way the Central Valley Coyotes felt this season. Their Western Division nemesis – the Spokane Shock – are always finding a way to come out on top.

Twice in the regular season just two points separated Central Valley (Fresno, Calif.) from the division champions. It was no different on Saturday night when the Shock scored an 83-63 arenafootball2 playoff victory over the Coyotes (11-7) at the Arena. The Shock’s 83 points are a single-game franchise record.

Spokane (17-1) hosts the Amarillo Dusters in next Saturday’s National Conference championship game.

“It’s tough to beat a team three times – and we’ve beaten four teams (Boise, Tri-Cities, Stockton and Central Valley) three times this year,” Shock coach Adam Shackleford said. “That’s as big of an accomplishment as anything we’ll have this year.”

Patrick Bugg led the Shock’s receiving corps with eight catches and 111 yards. Bugg caught three touchdown passes from quarterback Nick Davila, who completed 20 of 35 passes for 258 yards, threw five TD passes and ran for another score.

The Shock got off to a quick start on both sides of the ball.

After CV’s Jomo Wilson returned Brian Jackson’s game-opening kickoff, Kevin McCullough forced a fumble that Justin Warren recovered on the Shock’s 15-yard line. Andy Olson caught two passes for 17 yards and Bugg added two more receptions for 17 yards , bringing the Shock to the Coyotes’ 1-yard line.

On the ensuing play, fullback Katon Bethay barreled into the end zone for a touchdown.

Shock receiver Etu Molden recovered Jackson’s onside kick on the next play and Bugg skillfully avoided a Nathan Munson tackle six plays later as Spokane took a 14-0 lead midway through the first quarter.

“Fourteen-to-nothing to a 16-1 team – it was ‘game over,’ ” Central Valley coach Fred Biletnikoff Jr. said of Spokane’s two-touchdown lead. “In arena football you can’t overcome a 14-0 deficit to a 16-1 football team.”

They did manage to take the lead a couple of times, though. Once when Nichiren Flowers hauled in a 7-yard TD pass from quarterback Clay Groefsema to put the Coyotes up 21-20 and again when Jason Barnes leaped over Spokane defensive back Nygel Rogers to pull down a five-yard pass and give CV a 28-27 lead.

After that the Shock took over.

Bethay finished with three TDs – his longest an 18-yard run in the fourth quarter that gave Spokane a 61-48 lead. Olson and Raul Vijil each caught a TD pass from Davila and defensive backs Sergio Gilliam and Roshawn Marshall each finished with an interception.

McCullough also had an interception and added a 1-yard TD run at the end of the game to give the Shock their single-game scoring record.

“When we’re on we’re on, and when we’re not, we’re not very good,” Shackleford said. “The deeper we go in the playoffs, the better we need to get consistency-wise.

“(CV) is the best football team we played all year I think they are better than South Georgia, who beat us. They came out and tried to do some new things tonight and the great equalizer in arena football is the pass rush, and they didn’t have an answer for that.”

Extra points

Former Shock defensive back Rob Keefe attended the game. Keefe is fresh off an ArenaBowl championship with the AFL’s Philadelphia Soul. … Tickets for Saturday’s game against Amarillo go on sale Monday at noon through all TicketsWest outlets.