Shock picks up victory on the road
PORTLAND – A couple of lineup changes fueled a hot start and helped the Spokane Shock keep their Arena Football League playoff hopes alive Sunday night with a 69-54 win over the Portland Thunder.
Carson Coffman, replacing Warren Smith as the Shock’s starting quarterback, threw nine touchdown passes, including five in the first half to Nick Truesdell. Coffman completed 20 of 32 passes for 328 yards.
Mike McMillan, making his Spokane debut as the team’s starting middle linebacker against Portland, had two interceptions, including a drive-stopping theft in the end zone during the first half.
It was a sorely needed result for the Shock, who had dropped four of five games heading into Sunday’s game.
“Absolutely it was big. Team morale was down a little bit after our loss to Vegas last week. This is one we needed,” Coffman said.
Spokane (4-8) took a one-game lead over the Thunder (3-9) for the National Conference’s final playoff berth with six games remaining in the season.
It was a game the Shock controlled from the outset, albeit with a few shaky moments in the second half.
Led by the Coffman-to-Truesdell connection, Spokane scored on its first five possessions. The Shock led 35-7 seven minutes into the second quarter, and took a 49-28 lead into halftime. Coffman hit the 6-foot-7 Truesdell with touchdown passes of 33, 11, 26, 20 and 9 yards during the first half.
“As you can see, he’s the biggest, fastest guy out there. I love having him on my team. It made it easy for me,” Coffman said.
As for sparking the offense as the Shock’s new starting quarterback, Coffman said it was more a matter that the team was in sync.
“I don’t know if it was me. We had a lot of favorable situations. I think I only got hit once all night long. Our receivers were getting open,” Coffman said.
Portland was able to mildly keep contact after making a quarterback change when Kyle Rowley replaced Alex Carder in the second quarter. Rowley, the former Spokane quarterback and the franchise’s all-time passing leader, completed his first three throws, all for touchdowns, as the Thunder matched scores with Spokane on their final three possessions.
Spokane’s downfall of late has been closing out games, and that began to rear its head again when the Thunder closed to within 49-41 with 4:21 left in the third quarter. But Coffman threw touchdown passes to Jabin Sambrano and Braylon Bell to rebuild the lead to 21 points.
Also figuring large was a fourth-quarter defensive stand, where the Shock turned away Portland on downs after the Thunder had driven to the Spokane 4.
“It’s about time we finished one off,,” Spokane coach Andy Olson said. “We still let them back in more than we should have. But our defense made the plays, finally, when we needed them.”