Spokane’s offense looked more like the one we saw earlier in the season on Friday evening. Erik Meyer tossed six touchdown passes and passed for over 300 yards. The Shock also fielded maybe their best trio of receivers this season. Adron Tennell had another great game, reeling in 14 passes for 172 yards and two touchdowns. Kamar Jorden returned from his brief stint in Indianapolis Colts’ training camp without rust. Fan favorite Brandon Thompkins made his return to the Spokane Arena, catching three touchdowns on the evening.

               

But the real offensive force wasn’t wearing orange and blue. He wore white and purple. Voodoo receiver Donovan Morgan, an AFL veteran, had a sensational night. He caught 13 passes for 255 yards and five touchdowns. This raises some major concerns about Spokane’s defense. During the five game win streak, Spokane held their opponents to under 40 points four times. Since then, teams have had a much easier time exploiting the Shock secondary. Coverage breakdowns have become commonplace in the Spokane Arena. The Shock have been giving up an alarming number of big plays. Four of Donovan Morgan’s five touchdowns were at least thirty yards in length. Spokane has to shore up that area of their defense.

               

Still, they were opportunistic enough to make big plays when they were needed. Voodoo quarterback Kurt Rocco threw three interceptions. Two of them were to Paul Stephens, who added to his league leading eight interceptions. The third and final pick of the evening was corralled by Terrance Sanders, who took it back all the way for six points. DE James Ruffin also made his impact felt, sacking Rocco three times and forcing a fumble late in the 4^th quarter which would be the nail in the coffin. That pressure was on Rocco all game. He looked very uncomfortable, and his itchy trigger finger was constantly firing incompletions.

               

The Shock still need to shore up their mental mistakes. On their first drive of the game, Meyer threw an interception. Luckily, it was fumbled and recovered by Spokane. A turnover on downs early in the first half would provide the Voodoo with an early opportunity to have a one possession advantage. Later, a bobbled snap would be returned by the Voodoo late in the third quarter to give them the lead. New Orleans is not a good football team; so on this night, Spokane was still able to grind out a victory. But this sort of sloppy play will not fly one month from now in a pivotal matchup against the Rattlers. Three drives that fail to result in points will not be enough to pull out victories against the AFL’s best.

               

Terrance Sanders, the Shock’s dynamic DB/KR, has been sensational the last few weeks. Against the Voodoo, he made the game shattering play with an interception returned for a touchdown. Earlier in the game, he returned a kickoff for a touchdown, stopping the Voodoo’s momentum after they scored on the Shock’s fumbled snap. It was his fourth return for a touchdown this season.

It wasn’t a pretty win, but it was enough to lift the dark cloud that’s been overshadowing the Shock for the last month or so. In post-game interviews, Terrance Sanders and Andy Olson reiterated the same sentiment: it was nice to get the monkey of their backs. Olson would note that, “It’s about getting back to having fun. We haven’t had any fun the past three weeks, plain and simple. Practice hasn’t been fun, games haven’t been fun. We really got back to ourselves.” Let’s hope they manage to stay there in the coming weeks. The Shock head back on the road this week for a Memorial Day Weekend clash against the San Antonio Talons. Kickoff is set for May 24^th at 5:30 PST.

Jeffrey Giuliani is a sports journalist from Renton, Washington. He is a senior at Western Washington Univeristy where he is studying journalism. Giuliani is currently the sports editor for his college paper, The Western Front and hopes to move on to a daily after obtaining his degree. This will be his third season covering the Spokane Shock for ArenaFan.