Shock begin preparations for Austin

Sunday wasn’t a day of rest for Adam Shackleford.

The second-year Spokane Shock coach was at the Shock practice facility, watching film and making preparations for his team’s arenafootball2 playoff opener against the Austin Wranglers.

“We’re trying to outwork our opponent right from the get-go,” Shackleford joked.

The Western Division champion Shock will host the Wranglers, an af2 expansion team this season, on Saturday night at the Arena. Because they are the top-seeded team in the league, the Shock will have home-field advantage for the duration of the af2 playoffs. There’s one stipulation, though.

“It’s only an advantage if we go out and play the game well,” said Shackleford.

Shackleford stated Sunday that the Wranglers, who Spokane beat 62-42 in Austin on May 24, will be a quality opponent if the team he’s seen on film shows up and plays its A-game.

“They’ve played really well at times,” said Shackleford. “There have been a lot of times, from what we’ve seen, that they’ve struggled in the first half and gotten behind in games and then really poured it on in the second half. There are times you can see why they have won eight times and there are times you can see why they have lost eight games.

“We think Austin will come up here and do the right things. They know if they can get a win here that it can spark them throughout the rest of the playoffs.”

This will be Shackleford’s second straight postseason appearance as a head coach in the af2 and the Shock’s third straight year in the playoffs.

After finishing 12-4 through the regular season in 2007, the Shock were upset by Louisville in the first round of the playoffs. In 2006, Spokane’s first year in the af2, the Shock won the ArenaCup championship under coach Chris Siegfried, who is coaching the fourth-seeded Arkansas Twisters (11-5).

If all of the top four seeds win their first round games, Arkansas and the Shock would meet in the second round in Spokane on August 9.