Shock and roll
Spokane will play for title
On a night when the conference title was on the line, he scored the first and the last touchdown.
In a season where the second league championship is on the line, Raul Vijil and the Spokane Shock have just one goal left.
If the Spokane Shock can do once more what they’ve done 18 times already this season, they’ll be ArenaCup champions.
They earned to right to host the arenafootball2 league’s ninth championship game with a 79-49 National Conference championship victory over the upset-minded Amarillo Dusters on Saturday night at the Arena.
Spokane (18-1) will host the American Conference champion Tennessee Valley Vipers (13-6) after they defeated Manchester 45-35 on Saturday.
“When you get the opportunity to go to a championship – it’s something special,” said Vijil, who has played for Spokane since its inception three seasons ago.
“It’s a little different this year, I have a different role on the team and it means a lot to me,” Vijil said. “I’m a leader and I’ve taken on that role and enjoyed playing with these young guys. Someone told me the other day that we’re the youngest team in the af2 – that shows the kind of talent Spokane has been able to bring in.
“That’s two out of three goals we wanted to accomplish this season.”
The first goal – win the Western Division.
The second – a conference title, something that was accomplished with relative ease. The Shock took a 14-0 lead early in the game and never looked back.
Vijil scored on Spokane’s opening drive on a 13-yard catch from quarterback Nick Davila to give the Shock a 7-0 lead. After Shock defensive lineman Devon Parks recovered a Wallace House fumble on Amarillo’s 10-yard line, Davila connected with Olson on a 7-yard pass play and Kyle Young ran the ball in for a 3-yard touchdown.
By halftime Davila had passed for four touchdowns, Patrick Bugg had caught a TD pass and rushed for another, Andy Olson hauled in two TD passes and the Shock led 44-28.
Bugg pulled in a 26-yard TD pass from Davila to give the Shock a 21-7 lead.
After Dusters receiver Jim Lukowiak and quarterback Julian Reese hooked up for a 41-yard touchdown, Bugg cut through an open field from the 25-yard line and sprinted into the end zone to give Spokane a two-touchdown lead.
Vijil finished with three touchdowns and veteran fullback Katon Bethay rushed for 59 yards and a touchdown.
“We’ve got a good offense,” said Shock coach Adam Shackleford. “I think when our quarterback makes the right decisions and we protect him, we have the opportunity to do a lot of things.”
The Shock defense didn’t take the night off, either.
Defensive backs Sergio Gilliam and Roshawn Marshall each picked off Reese once and linebacker Lee Foliaki came up with two interceptions.
“We continue to make big plays on defense,” Shackleford said. “We really kept their quarterback contained tonight.”
By doing so, it’s down to one final Shock showdown.
“That’s been the goal,” Bugg said. “All year we’ve had three goals – win the West, win the conference and win the championship. We’ve done all we can do to this point.
“One to go.”
Extra points
The seventh-seeded Dusters knocked off the defending ArenaCup champion Tulsa Talons and the third-seeded Bossier-Shreveport BattleWings en route to the conference championship. … Tickets for the ArenaCup championship game go on sale Monday at noon through TicketsWest. The championship game will be played on Monday, Aug. 25 because of a concert Saturday night at the Arena.