Shock Tame Sabercats, Improve to 5-0
Jeffrey Giuliani
Tuesday April 23, 2013
The Spokane Shock rolled to another victory on Friday evening, easily toppling the San Jose Sabercats by a score of 69-47. The game was never particularly close. San Jose struggled with turnovers and Spokane’s offense was far too powerful to be given extra chances to score.
Speaking of turnovers, Sabercats’ quarterback Aaron Garcia’s third leading receiver of the evening wasn’t wearing green and gold; he was wearing white and blue. Spokane Shock DB Paul Stephens made life a nightmare for the arena football legend, picking off five Aaron Garcia passes in the contest. That is AFL single game record. Stephens started early, picking off an underthrown pass on the Sabercats opening drive. Early in the second quarter, Stephens would be caught stealing again. On 4th down in the red zone, Garcia’s pass rebounded off the net and was caught by Stephens. Later in the 3rd quarter, Paul Stephens would put the nail in the coffin by picking off Garcia and taking it back for six.
The Shock defense has been outstanding all season. The win over San Jose marked the fourth time Spokane has held their opponent to under 50 points in five tries. With how electric Spokane’s offense is, they only need to manage a couple stops per game to pull out a win. They managed to contain the AFL’s all-time leading passer in Aaron Garcia this week, and kept the proficient Nick Davila from doing too much damage the week before. The Shock have definitely found a winning formula this season.
Part of that formula is just how deep their roster is. It’s a different player that makes the game defining play from week to week. Last week, it was a timely interception by Beau Bell that ended Arizona’s hopes. This week, it was Paul Stephens having a historic day. There are a slew of players that can be called upon to make big plays that could turn the tide. Andy Olson has this team believing they can top anyone. He has completely changed the culture. This has not been an easy stretch of games for Spokane. Four of their first five games were on the road. They had to face early hurdles by facing the defending Arenabowl champion Arizona Rattlers, and a well-coached Iowa Barnstormers squad. Yet, they’ve persevered and now sit atop the National Conference with a 5-0 record.
As with every Shock win in this young AFL season, quarterback Erik Meyer was on top of his game. San Jose had no answer for the powerful Shock offense, managing only one stop on the evening. Meyer chalked up another eight touchdowns, giving him 40 on the season. Meyer has yet to throw an interception in 2013, and is easily the frontrunner thus far to win the AFL MVP award.
The Spokane Shock bested a good San Jose Sabercats squad last Friday evening. Andy Olson had to be proud of what his team has accomplished thus far. They have taken the AFL by surprise, being one of only two undefeated squads remaining. But a storm is brewing in Spokane- the Tampa Bay Storm that is. They roll into Eastern Washington with their own prolific offense, led by the former FSU Seminole, Adrian McPherson. Kickoff is set for Saturday, April 27th at 7:00 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.