Post by David on Aug 11, 2015 14:49:03 GMT -8
Spokane Shock History
2012 Season: Olson Gets the Nod
Year Seven
Regular Season Record: 10-8
Playoff Record: None
Coaches: Andy Olson (Head Coach/Offensive Coordinator), Travis Crusenberry (Defensive Coordinator/Line Coach), Stanley Franks (DB Coach)
After a disappointing 9-9 campaign full of injuries and failing to repeat as ArenaBowl Champions, the Shock made a coaching change. However, many were wondering how the start of the season would go due to a labor strike between the AFL Players Union and the AFL. The players were seeking better working conditions from the league, an increase in pay, and a long term collective-bargaining agreement. Because of this, there were several strange incidents from the Pittsburgh Power releasing its entire roster at the pre-game dinner at Olive Garden in Orlando to the Cleveland Gladiators going on strike before kickoff, resulting in the first ever forfeit in AFL history. Fortunately for the Shock, they were not affected by the labor issues.
The league did not see any expansion in 2012. The only major changes from 2011 included the relocation of the Tulsa Talons to San Antonio after 12 seasons of play between the af2 and the AFL. Meanwhile, the Dallas Vigilantes quietly folded prior to 2012 after being left off the 2012 regular season schedule.
The Shock played in the West Division of the National Conference, which consisted of the Arizona Rattlers, the Utah Blaze and the San Jose SaberCats.
Logos, Colors, and Uniforms
QB Kyle Rowley with the AFL's 25th Anniversary logo on the collar. (image credit: Spokane Shock)
Spokane retained its uniforms and helmets from the 2011 season with no modifications. However, during the 2012 season, the AFL celebrated 25 Seasons of Arena Football. To celebrate the event, all 17 teams had a special collar patch in place of the standard AFL shield collar. The anniversary collar shield was a rectangular shield that said "25 Seasons" and featured the AFL logo between the 2 and the 5.
Season Summary
DB Paul Stephens picks up a fumble in the season opener against Iowa (image credit: Gary Peterson Photography)
The Shock opened up their 2012 season under the new leadership of head coach Andy Olson, who previously served as the team’s offensive coordinator in 2011.
Starting out the season against Iowa, Spokane would not only suffer a home opener, overtime loss at the hands of the Barnstormers, but a controversial play late in the fourth quarter would send starting Shock quarterback Erik Meyer to the sideline with a season ending head injury.
The following week in San Antonio, backup Shock quarterback Adam Froman would answer the call and lead the Shock to a 63-60 win after scrambling 36-yards for the winning touchdown with just over two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. Spokane would go on to drop their next two games before a pair of wins against Milwaukee and Jacksonville pulled the team back up to 3-3 on the season.
The team played their second overtime game of the season against New Orleans in mid-May, this time pulling out a 68-62 victory thanks to a Terrance Sanders interception in overtime. The Shock wouldn’t fall below .500 again the rest of the season.
On June 23 in San Jose, the Shock offense exploded with a 90-63 win over the SaberCats thanks to quarterback Kyle Rowley’s 12 touchdown passes.
Closing out the season with wins over Kansas City on the road and Tampa Bay at home pushed the shock to a 10-8 record. But despite the winning record, the Shock were buried at the bottom of an incredibly strong West Division. With Arizona leading the division at 13-5 and San Jose and Utah following with 12-6 records, the Shock’s 10 wins were not enough to grab them a playoff berth for the first time in franchise history.
2012 REGULAR SEASON RESULTS
The 2012 AFL schedule was set up so that all 17 teams played 18 games in 20 weeks with each team getting two Bye weeks.
The following is the results of Spokane's 2012 schedule (bold blue denotes home games).
MARCH:
Week 1 -- Mon., March 12th – Iowa Barnstormers (L 63-69) (OT)
Week 2 -- Sat., March 17th – at San Antonio Talons (W 63-60)
Week 3 -- BYE
Week 4 -- Fri., March 30th – San Jose SaberCats (L 35-69)
APRIL:
Week 5 -- Fri., April 6th – at Arizona Rattlers (L 53-57)
Week 6 -- Sat., April 14th – Milwaukee Mustangs (W 57-26)
Week 7 -- BYE
Week 8 -- Sat., April 28th – Jacksonville Sharks (W 56-48)
MAY:
Week 9 -- Fri., May 4th – at Utah Blaze (L 63-84)
Week 10 -- Fri., May 11th – New Orleans VooDoo (W 68-63) (OT)
Week 11 -- Fri., May 18th – Philadelphia Soul (W 56-47)
Week 12 -- Fri., May 25th – at Iowa Barnstormers (W 68-62)
JUNE:
Week 13 -- Sun., June 3rd – at Chicago Rush (L 62-73)
Week 14 -- Sat., June 9th – Kansas City Command (W 70-46)
Week 15 -- Sat., June 16th – Utah Blaze (L 55-58)
Week 16 -- Sat., June 23rd – at San Jose SaberCats (W 90-63)
Week 17 -- Fri., June 29th – Arizona Rattlers (L 35-61)
JULY:
Week 18 -- Sun., July 8th – at Philadelphia Soul (L 48-62)
Week 19 -- Sat., July 14th – at Kansas City Command (W 49-48)
Week 20 -– Sat., July 21st – Tampa Bay Storm (W 63-53)
AWAY VENUES
Arizona Rattlers - US Airways Center; Phoenix, Arizona
Chicago Rush - Allstate Arena; Rosemont, Illinois
Iowa Barnstormers - Wells Fargo Arena; Des Moines, Iowa
Jacksonville Sharks - Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena; Jacksonville, Florida
Kansas City Command - Sprint Center; Kansas City, Missouri
Philadelphia Soul - Wells Fargo Center; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
San Antonio Talons - Alamodome; San Antonio, Texas
San Jose SaberCats - HP Pavilion at San Jose; San Jose, California
Utah Blaze - EnergySolutions Arena; Salt Lake City, Utah
DB/KR Terrance Sanders was named to the AFL's All-Ironman Team for his stellar play on defense & kick returns in 2012 (image credit: Zach Edwards Photography)
Individual Statistic Leaders
Passing
Kyle Rowley – 384/588, 4,348 yards, 96 TD, 23 INT
Adam Froman – 48/69, 459 yards, 8 TD, 6 INT
Erik Meyer – 25/45, 294 yards, 6 TD, 2 INT
Jason Boltus – 4/6, 30 yards, 1 INT
Rushing
Adam Froman – 12 rushes, 85 yards, 4 TD
Andrew Nierman – 27 rushes, 29 yards, 4 TD
Kyle Rowley -26 rushes, 26 yards, 5 TD
Receiving
Adron Tennell – 158 receptions, 1,825 yards, 40 TD
Brandon Thompkins – 76 receptions, 906 yards, 26 TD
Steven Black – 68 receptions, 770 yards, 15 TD
Rod Harper – 51 receptions, 474 yards, 12 TD
Justin Ore – 42 receptions, 444 yards, 3 TD
Jeffrey Solomon – 33 receptions, 431 yards, 8 TD
Joe Hills – 14 receptions, 134 yards, 1 TD
Kick Returns
Terrance Sanders – 74 returns, 1,677 yards, 5 TD
Paul Stephens – 36 returns, 574 yards, 3 TD
Kicking
Kenny Spencer – 4/7 FG, 138/146 XP, 150 points
Defensive
Terrance Sanders – 82 total tackles, 14 pass breakups, 2 forced fumbles, 8 INT
Josh Ferguson – 72 total tackles, 13 pass breakups, 1 fumble recovery, 2 INT
Paul Stephens – 65.5 total tackles, 9 pass breakups, 1 fumble recovery, 3 INT
Patrick Stoudamire – 56 total tackles, 3 pass breakups, 1 fumble recovery, 4 INT
Terence Moore – 47 total tackles, 1 pass breakup, 3 forced fumbles, 3 fumble recoveries, 3 INT
James Ruffin – 18 total tackles, 3.0 sacks, 2 pass breakups, 2 forced fumbles, 2 fumble recoveries
Jeremy Geathers – 16.5 total tackles, 6.5 sacks, 2 forced fumbles
Beau Bell – 16 total tackles, 3.0 sacks, 3 pass breakups, 1 forced fumble, 1 fumble recovery, 1 INT
Mike Alston – 9 total tackles, 4.0 sacks, 1 forced fumble, 2 fumble recoveries
Chris Tucker – 8 total tackles, 2.5 sacks, 1 forced fumble, 1 fumble recovery
Honors & Awards
Avitae AFL Kicker of the Year: Kenny Spencer (K)
First Team All-Arena: Terrance Sanders (DB), Kenny Spencer (K)
Second Team All-Arena: Terrance Sanders (KR)
All-Ironman Team: Terrance Sanders (DB/KR)
Season Summary provided by the Spokane Shock in the Season Ticket Holder 2015 Pre-Season program.
