| WB-Scranton Pioneers vs Spokane Shock |
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| Written by Walter Lee | |
| Saturday, 11 July 2009 | |
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In the first meeting ever between the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Pioneers and the Spokane Shock, it pitted number one against number two in the arenafootball2 coaches poll. With both teams being so similar in almost every offensive and defensive category and being separated only by 1 win (Spokane 12-1, WB-Scranton 11-2) this game lived up to the hype and just may have been a preview of the Arena Cup in Las Vegas. In the First Quarter the Pioneers scored on the first possession of the game with a 4 play drive ending with a touchdown pass from Pioneer quarterback Ryan Vena to wide receiver Rich Musinski. Not to be upstaged the Spokane Shock answered with a touchdown of their own by quarterback Nick Davila to wide receiver Charles Dillon. Both teams exchanged touchdowns to end the Quarter tied at 14. The Second Quarter kept right in tune with the first. After the Pioneers would score the Shock would score, until the end of the quarter when the Pioneers kicker David Davis converted on a 41 yard field goal attempt to make it 31-28 at the half. These two teams are so similar in style and play you just had a feeling it would come down to who had the ball last. The similarities were there the whole game. For example when Shock QB Nick Davila would throw an interception on the very next play Pioneer QB Ryan Vena would throw an interception of his own, this would happen twice during this exciting and very entertaining game. In the Third Quarter both defensive units would step up their game. The Pioneers defense held the high powered Shock offense to one score, a 3 yard run by Harrison Nikolao. Then the Shock defense would one up the Pioneers by intercepting QB Ryan Vena twice and hold the Pioneers scoreless making it 35-31 to end the quarter. To start the Fourth Quarter the Pioneers started deep in their own territory at the one yard line. With one play they quickly quieted the sell out crowd of 10,561 with a hitch pass to wide receiver J.J. Outlaw who took it the distance for six. But once again not to be out done, the Shock’s Raul Vijil took the ensuing kick off to the right then after dodging two Pioneers back tracked to the left and ran it all the way back for a touchdown making it 42-38 with 13:13 left in the game. With the Shock trailing 52-49 and 1:40 left on the clock, Shock back up wide receiver Markee White would enter the game for an injured Charles Dillon. A few plays later White would make a spectacular one handed catch then fall over the side boards and keep control of the ball for what ended up being the game winning score. On the last play of the game Pioneer QB Ryan Vena would throw up a hail mary pass into the end zone and get picked off by DB Sergio Gilliam to end the game giving the Shock a 56-52 victory to improve to a league best 13-1 record. Gilliam ended up picking off Vena three times. Shock WR Raul Vijil was named player of the game and finished with 3 touchdowns on 13 catches for 124 yards and 1 kick off return for a touchdown. The Spokane Shock ended with an undefeated season at home for the first time in franchise history. The Shock are on the road for the last two games of the season. Beginning with division rival Central Valley Coyotes and ending with division rival Boise Burn before returning to the Spokane Arena on August 1st for the opening round of the playoffs. 
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