Shock offense rolls in victory

Spokane’s offense scored three touchdowns before it faced a second down. Quarterback Nick Davila connected on his first 14 passes before the football finally touched the carpet early in the third quarter. The Shock scored on every possession except their last one, and that was by design as they successfully ran out the clock.

Tri-Cities, riding a stellar performance by reserve quarterback Tali Ena, nearly matched Spokane point for point, but the Shock cashed in on a successful onside kick and outscored the Fever 59-56 in a wild arenafootball2 contest before another sell-out crowd of 10,569 Saturday at the Spokane Arena.

For a change, the offense did the heavy lifting as the second-ranked Shock improved to 7-0, two of those wins coming by a combined seven points against the Fever (2-5).

“The defense has been doing good the majority of the season,” linebacker Lee Foliaki said. “We’ve been there when the offense needed us. We needed the offense today and they had our backs. That tells you a lot about our team character.”

The onside kick came after Spokane’s second touchdown. Brian Jackson’s boot hopped high in the air, and Lee Foliaki and Jason Jack cleared out Fever counterparts, allowing Patrick Bugg to make the recovery. Davila hit Raul Vijil in the corner for the touchdown to boost Spokane’s lead to 21-7.

Tri-Cities played catch-up the rest of the way.

“We knew they had the ball coming out in the second half, and we tried to gain an extra possession,” Shock coach Adam Shackleford said. “When one side of the ball is struggling, you try to find an answer and do anything to help.”

Tri-Cities had a different look when it got the ball back. Quarterback Josh Kellett, who had piloted two straight wins, left with a leg injury. Ena, a former Washington State Cougar who backed up Jason Gesser before transferring to New Mexico, took over and the offense kept on scoring.

Ena, who played defensive end prior to Kellett’s injury, passed for 235 yards and four TDs, three to J.R. Thomas. The 6-foot-5, 245-pound Ena also ran for two scores.

“We’re both good teams and the fans got what they came for,” Ena said. “We wanted to get a win – that would have been very important – but that’s how it goes.”

For the second straight week, Davila tossed seven touchdown passes and the offense had no turnovers. Spokane finished with 269 yards, just two shy of its season-high 271 in last week’s 62-42 win over Boise.

“We finally did a good job of making the right reads and the right throws,” said Davila, who has started Spokane’s last two games. “I’m feeling more comfortable every day.”

The Shock led 42-28 after Tremaine Tyler’s 2-yard TD run with 8 seconds left in the second quarter. After a short kickoff, the Fever’s Kyle Hooper missed a 31-yard field goal.

Ena kept the pressure on, often buying time in the pocket until receivers came open.

“Actually I was surprised (by Ena), but then I found out he did play quarterback before,” Foliaki said. “Until then, I was thinking they threw a defensive end in there and he’s out here throwing touchdown passes.”

The teams traded touchdowns until Spokane settled for Jackson’s 16-yard field goal to make it 59-49 with 4:51 remaining.

Another Ena touchdown pass closed the deficit to 59-56 with 3:11 left, but Spokane ate up the remaining time by picking up two first downs, one via a penalty.

Vijil, who is battling hamstring, shoulder and turf toe injures, had three TD catches. Spokane visits Austin (3-4) Saturday.