Shock simply unstoppable

Break up the Shock.

Oh, wait. They do it every year.

So what, then, does the rest of the league do about the latest scourge of af2? Punt?

Oh, wait. You can’t do that in arena ball.

Well, somebody had better think of something, because for the second time in three years, Spokane’s summer football obsession will play for all the lower-case marbles.

For now, the thinking job falls to the Tennessee Valley Vipers, from the lovely Tennessee town of …

Oh, wait. They’re from Huntsville, Ala.

In any case, they’re Spokane’s opponent a week from Monday in the ninth ArenaCup, to be played this year at the corner of Howard and Mallon – slightly more convenient than where the Shock hunted down their first title in 2006: at the corner of Ron Rico Rum and Tropical Storm Debby.

That’s right, Monday Night Football. Are you ready for some, Spokane?

The Shock are.

“You got to be in it to win it,” said center Rico Ochoa, “and we in it.”

They got there Saturday night with a characteristic 79-49 cruise past the Amarillo Dusters, one of the two seventh-seeded Cinderellas left in the af2 playdown, having survived two road games to reach the National Conference finals at the Spokane Arena.

Characteristic? As they did a week ago, the Shock had a two-touchdown lead before their fans could dash back to the taps for a refill. The difference was, this time the coach in the other box, Amarillo’s Chris MacKeown, didn’t consider it “game over” – and neither did the Shock, who kept the pedal to the floor the rest of the way.

They scored on 12 of 13 possessions, stumbling only on their first try of the second half when Nick Davila underthrew a corner lob to Kelvin Dickens that was intercepted. In the meantime, Spokane tipped the field early by recovering a fumble by fullback Wallace House and then intercepted Amarillo quarterback Julian Reese four times – two by linebacker Lee Foliaki.

“Our linebacker play tonight,” said Spokane coach Adam Shackleford, “was outstanding.”

The Shock have won their three playoff games by an average of 26 points, better than their regular-season spread – no doubt reinforcing the apprehensions around the rest of af2 about home-field advantage going to a team that drew 4,000 more fans a game than any other playoff participant.

“A lot of people didn’t want to come up here and play the ArenaCup,” Shackleford said. “We knew we held our own destiny. But now we have to go out and win that football game.”

Funny he should mention destiny.

That was what the Shock were all about in 2006, when the franchise first came into being, when the team created this strange and magical union with an instantly rabid fan base and when they conspired to conjure up all sorts of bizarre drama in rolling to the championship.

That was destiny. By comparison, the run to this point in 2008 looks like it was plotted on a blueprint.

“As much as we wanted that to happen in 2006, I don’t think any of us really thought we’d be in that position,” said general manager Adam Nebeker. “This year, we felt really confident coming in. For the first time, we had a returning coach. We had high expectations. We just felt further ahead.”

This has led to a harmony unique in the transient world of af2 – to the point that when gifted Arena League veteran Etu Molden rebelled at his lack of use the past two weeks, Shackleford sent him down the road, the talent loss be damned.

“I know you hear it a lot,” said fullback Katon Bethay, who along with Ochoa and receiver Raul Vijil are the holdovers from the 2006 team, “we want to win it for each other – not just to win it.”

The Vipers, a fourth seed out of the American Conference, will have to find flaws the Shock have not revealed thus far in the playoffs. Davila’s decisions were solid Saturday night, and his receivers caught everything close to them – and now the Shock seem to have a special fondness for turning behemoths like Bethay and Kyle Young loose. Meanwhile, the defense is creating extra opportunities – which only cranks up the volume.

“We have a big advantage playing here,” Shackleford said, “but when there are only two teams left, they both deserve to be here – and they’re not going to care where they play.”

But, of course, the Shock do.

“We all want to be here,” Bethay insisted. “I think if we could make it a franchise and keep everybody together for next year, we would.”

But in af2, no one can wait ’til next year.

And in Spokane, the Shock can barely wait ’til next week.