Shock Lose Heartbreaker In OT

SPOKANE — Monday night was supposed to be the night the Shock claimed the championship crown, but it turned into a night that is going to haunt the team and fans for a long time.

Spokane battled, taking the Arena Cup game into overtime for the first time in it’s history, but they eventually fell to Tennessee Valley 55-56.

Tennessee Valley opened the scoring early, ending their opening drive with a touchdown. The Shock answered back though, knotting the score at 7-7 at the end of the first quarter. A missed field goal in the second sent Spokane into halftime trailing by one, 20-21.

The second half was a back and forth affair, with the Shock trailing 41-48 late in the fourth quarter. Spokane tied it in the end, though, and the game went in to overtime. Each team scored on their opening drive, but the difference was a two point conversion Tennessee Valley scored to go ahead by one, 56-55.

So the gamble pays off, and the Vipers come into Spokane and pull off one of the biggest upsets in AF2 history.

“Our guys played their butts off tonight,” Shock head coach Adam Shackleford said. “They have nothing to be ashamed about. We lost by one point in overtime. It stinks to lose, but you’re not going to win them all. We came out and played hard tonight, but not well enough to win.

“It’s one of those things where you’ve got the two best teams in the AFL, and we knew they had a good defense coming in here, and we made some mistakes early, and just hats off to them. There’s nothing much to say besides, you know, overtime game, what more could you ask for,” Shock receiver Raul Vijil said.

The Shock ended the season with only two losses, both at home.