Spokane entertains Fever
Spokane returns to the Arena to face its closest rival, Tri-Cities, on Saturday in game two of the arenafootball2 season. Read on for an unedited preview of the game that will run in Saturday's S-R.
By
Staff writer
The Spokane Shock and Tri-Cities Fever seem to be on opposite ends on the arenafootball2 spectrum. The Shock won an ArenaCup title in their inaugural season in 2006 and played for af2’s top prize last year. The Fever are 12-23 in their two-plus years and haven’t won a playoff game.
Tri-Cities is 0-2 to start 2009, including a 48-15 home loss to
The teams collide tonight at 7 at the Arena.
“They are a team that is obviously struggling,”
“Professionals are going to go out and not worry about who they’re playing, go out and take care of their business. We’ve challenged our guys to play 60 minutes. We also know a very average Tri-Cities team came up here last year, lost their starting quarterback in the first five minutes and battled with us for 60 minutes and almost won that football game.”
The top-ranked Shock are 1-0 after a 59-42 victory over
“We lost focus for a series,” Shackleford said. “Fortunately it didn’t hurt us in that game, but down the road it could. You can’t go four-and-out in arena football. You have to move the ball and give yourself a chance.”
Otherwise,
Tri-Cities, which had a bye last week, made several roster moves following the loss to
“They’ve got a lot of guys fighting for jobs right now,” Shackleford said. “Coach (Richard)
The Fever only have four players with af2 experience – quarterback Joe Ayoob, receiver Phil Goodman, defensive back Ray Little and former Shock defensive lineman Chuck Jones. Ayoob’s completion percentage is under 50 and he was intercepted five times by
“We have a lot of veterans on this team and we know they are going to come in and play us hard,” Shock quarterback Nick Davila said. “We have to play our football and just worry about ourselves.”
Notes
As of late Friday morning, less than 1,000 tickets remained. … Shackleford said it’ll be a game-time decision on the status of defensive linemen Martrel Brown and Jonal Saint-Dic. “We have to decide if we want to dress an extra skill guy or a big guy,” Shackleford said. … Ex-Washington State Cougar receiver Nakoa McElrath, who scored the Fever’s lone touchdown against