Meyer shines as Shock smack down Soul, 75-54

Brian Beaudry
Sunday June 12, 2011

Welcome back to Spokane, Erik Meyer.

The Shock scored a season-high 75 points in Meyer's AFL debut and the defense nearly doubled its season-long interception total by picking off three Ryan Vena passes in a 75-54 romp over the Philadelphia Soul. The win, coupled with Tulsa's win over Utah on Saturday, put four teams into a tie for the fourth National Conference playoff spot.

"It was awesome; the receivers and O-line played a heckuva game, and when you score a lot of points like this, you've got to attribute a lot to the defense. They only gave up 54, and some of those points were off of offensive turnovers," Meyer said.

Several Shock season-long bugaboos went by the wayside in the game. After leading the league in onside kick futility, having failed to recover any in nine tries, Spokane recovered two onside kicks to open the game, enabling them to pull out to a 20-0 lead before the Soul offense saw the field. They also managed to prevent Philadelphia from converting an onside kick.

After throwing the first pass of the game away, Meyer didn't throw another incompletion until the second quarter, with the Shock up 27-14.

The Soul, however, refused to go away. When the Shock offense sputtered at the end of the first half with a Markee White fumble and a turnover on downs, Philadelphia capitalized with a touchdown to Donovan Morgan, his third and final touchdown as he posted yet another 100-yard game with 117 on the day. After halftime, Vena tossed a touchdown to Larry Brackins that erased the entire Shock lead and put the teams square at 34-34.

That's when the defense stood tall.

In their first week after trading the ultra-talented Khreem Smith to Utah, all eyes were on the defense to see how they would perform without Smith creating havoc in the backfield. The secondary responded by having their best showing of the season, snaring three Vena passes and returning two for touchdowns. By the time the Soul scored again, it was to close the gap to 55-40.

"The secondary, we had a good long talk over the first practice back about how we weren't getting any interceptions," said Terrence Sanders, who picked off two Ryan Vena passes. "So we did ball drills practically with every drill, and it paid off."

The offensive success played a big part in the defense's big day, according to head coach Rob Keefe.

"Your best defense is an aggressive offense," said Keefe. "The fact that we put them in positions to do thing that they really didn't want to do - throwing the ball downfield when guys weren't open - that's what enables us to get after the quarterback."

Greg Orton led all receivers in the game with 10 receptions for 151 yards, picking up two touchdowns on the way. Markee White, in his long-awaited return, showed how critical he is to the team's red zone success in the very first drive, snaring a one-yard touchdown pass, part of three touchdown receptions on the day.

Adron Tennell, in his first AFL game, turned a short pass into a 26-yard touchdown and had 5 catches for 69 yards in his debut.

But the game for Spokane was all about Meyer and McNeil making the trade deadline maneuver look brilliant. The offensive line, led by McNeil, didn't give up any sacks after surrendering nine in the two weeks before the trade. Meyer completed 26 of 36 passes for 332 yards and seven touchdowns. He also recorded the collision of the game, knocking Philadelphia linebacker Brando Perkins into the next half as Perkins stopped a 3rd-down scramble at the end of the first half.

"We're out here to win football games, we're not out here to sit back and hopefully win football games," said Keefe. "That's what you do with a very heads-up, smart, quick-release, take-control leader of a quarterback. And finally I'm proud to say that we have that individual leading our team right now."

Not only did the offense look invigorated, but the defense seemed inspired by the performance.

"Erik Meyer played a great game today. As long as he can keep it up, I think we can do this," Sanders said.

"We had to have that swagger - I think you saw that back," Keefe said.

NOTES: The Shock also tried an onside kick early in the fourth quarter but were unsuccessful. Though they lost that battle, they won the war, as the Soul, who had averaged over 26 yards per return (including a 56-yard touchdown by Keith Stokes) on the previous four returns, ended up with no return yards for the rest of the game.

"Sometimes you've got to take a step back to take two steps forward," Keefe said.

Soul quarterback Ryan Vena finished the game with 300 yards on 23-of-41 passing with five touchdowns. Syvelle Newton led Philadelphia with 131 yards on 10 receptions.