It was an evening of firsts for the Spokane Shock.

 

The first regular season game to be played outdoors. The Shock scored the first touchdown, forced the first fumble, snatched the first interception, and most importantly, took over the pole position for a playoff spot for the first time this season by winning, 76-49 in Spokane’s Joe Albi Stadium.

 

Shock starting quarterback Erik Meyer completed 15 of 19 passes for 166 yards and six touchdowns and Kyle Rowley played effectively in relief after Meyer left the game due to cramps late in the third quarter. Their Blaze counterpart, AFL veteran Todd Hammel, counterbalanced a 23-34, 258-yard and five touchdown evening with two interceptions that set the Shock up for touchdown drives.

 

The game began fantastically for Spokane, as cloud cover for most of the day kept temperatures cool and Terrance Sanders sliced through the Blaze kick coverage team for 40 yards on the opening kickoff, giving the Shock a short field for their first touchdown drive of the night, a 3-yard rush by Antwan Marsh.

 

The Blaze, however, responded to every Spokane drive in the first half with a touchdown of their own until Alex Teems popped a 19-yard completion out of Aaron LeSue’s hands and then recovered the ball at the Utah 24-yard line for the only turnover of the first half.

 

Meyer took just one play to capitalize on the mistake, hitting Chas Gessner for a 24-yard strike that ended up being too much of a cushion for the Blaze to overcome – the Shock scored a touchdown on every drive they attempted to score.

 

All four of the Shock receivers caught touchdown passes in the game, including newcomer Brandon Thompkins, who reeled in a 45-yard bomb from Meyer for his first AFL touchdown, part of a four-touchdowns-in-five-offensive-plays series for Spokane.

 

“I think the receivers stepped up,” said Shock Head Coach Rob Keefe. “Playoff-caliber teams have to put away people – they have to crush opponents. They have to really, really make sure that everybody knows that they’re here for the long haul. I was really happy that, without question, we picked the right 21 [players] tonight.”

 

The crushing began in the second half, when the defense suffocated Utah’s offense, forcing three turnovers in five drives after the intermission, sending the crowd of over 16,000 into jubilation as Alex Teems, Beau Bell, and Ruschard Dodd-Masters nearly returned all three for touchdowns.

 

“We had a couple of different looks that we saved for the third and fourth quarter. We made sure that we were confusing the quarterback. We were kind of like a boxer –draw them in, then we hit them with the combos that we saved for late. That’s when you saw the D-line coming up into the play, because the DBs were confusing him,” Keefe said.

 

The Shock did have one scary moment in the third quarter, as Meyer began to cramp up again after scoring on a 1-yard touchdown rush. Rowley came in off the bench and redeemed himself after last week’s three-interception half against the Rattlers by doing nothing but score touchdowns and kill clock, sealing the victory.

 

“It’s nice for the fans to get outside in the summer, and it worked,” said Rowley about playing out in the elements.

 

The 27-point cushion had a lot of the Shock players extremely happy about the conditions of the game.

 

“It felt like I was back in college again,” said center Raymond McNeil, who came with Meyer in the trade with Utah that sparked the Shock’s recent resurgence.

 

“It felt good out here. We’ve got this nice breeze, it wasn’t too hot, the crowd was still behind us,” added Tennell, who noted that he hasn’t been out of college long, so he felt at home in the temporary digs.

 

The win put the Shock one game (plus a tiebreaker) ahead of the Blaze with two games to go. This week’s game has implications just as significant, as the Shock take on a San Jose team that beat them soundly in Week 1 and can wrest control of the fourth playoff seed from them with a win in Spokane. If the Shock win, they’re guaranteed a playoff spot.

 

NOTES: As a postscript to this column, I talked with Shock intern Matthew Bruhn to get his opinions after the game. “The win definitely made everything worth it. Had a great turnout – 16,000 strong, led wire-to-wire, put up points, got Chalupas – it was a great night,” Bruhn said. The crew began tearing down the setup as soon as fans left the field after the postgame autograph session, leaving the stadium at 2 a.m. Sunday morning.

Brian Beaudry has been both an intern and a Director of Communications within the AFL and occasionally provides analysis of the league and the Portland Thunder as an Oregon resident. He maintains a blog, Wrong Way Sports, and you can reach him with research or graphic design suggestions on Twitter at @BeaudryPDX.