On June 16^th, a rivalry was born as the Spokane Shock traveled to Tri-Cities to take on the Fever. It was the first of many games that will pin these two geographic rivals against each other; but, it was a game Shock fans would like to forget. Tonight is the second game of the series and the first in Spokane.  

The Fever were clearly the better team in the first meeting, despite defeating the Shock by less than a touchdown, 39-34. QB Brian Baker led the Fever’s high-powered offense spreading the ball to a deep receiving core that includes all-af2 candidate JR Thomas, Deontrae Johnson, and Bryon Rogers. Each receiver had multiple receptions including Thomas, who led the team in receptions with eight and tied Johnson for touchdown receptions with two each. 

The Shock’s offense struggled mightily in the first meeting. Starting QB Andrico Hines had his worst game of the season (8/33, 106 yards and three touchdowns) thanks in no small part to a heavy pass rush from the Fever and several miscommunications with his receivers.

“We didn’t protect Andrico, we dropped way too many balls, and we came out way too overly confident,” Head Coach Adam Shackleford said. “We know they are a good football team and that loss got us refocused.”

Since that game, the Shock have rattled off two straight important divisional wins (against Boise and Central Valley), allowing the team to take sole control of first place in the division. The Fever subsequently lost a crucial divisional game against the Central Valley Coyotes, but have defeated their last two opponents and are currently tied for second place in the division, trailing the first-place Shock by one game.

A rivalry that was born just over a month ago has grown exponentially with playoff implications and pride on the line. Spokane/Tri-Cities – round two.