SPOKANE, Wash. — The Spokane Shock have been road warriors for the past month.
They played three straight games away from Spokane Arena and also had a bye in between.
Thankfully for them, things have been going pretty well on the road as they won all of their away contests.
"In this game, the away games are more calming for the home team because of the tickets, the set up, everything going on, and we just go play. We're just looking forward to getting in front of a crowd in Spokane and seeing what the fans have to offer," said Spokane Shock Head Coach Billy Back.
"It's been pretty crazy. It's been pretty hectic, but we enjoy the travel. Travelling is not always fun when you have to go across the country and then you go to somewhere like Arizona where it's even hotter than here but we dealt with the elements and just enjoyed our time on the road. But we're darn sure looking forward to being at home this week," said Shock quarterback Charles McCullum.
Saturday's home game kind of feels like the Shock's first home game of the season as their season opener back in May had no fans in the stands. Coaches and players alike are very much looking forward to seeing faces in seats come Saturday.
"The first one was just terrible," said Back of the first game of the season. "It felt like it was a glorified scrimmage game in uniforms. Hard to get any juice or energy off that because there's no crowd to feed off of. Even the visiting coach said the same thing. He said, 'The fanbase here energizes the home team. It's hard to win here so we got lucky.' We're looking forward to having a nice crowd and playing for the fans."
"I did play against the Empire when they had fans, and I can tell you that place was rocking with the crazies, the atmosphere, the people on top of you just getting at you constantly," said McCullum. "Being an opposing team, you should be worried coming into here because these fans? They don't play."
"I can't wait for the ninth man. I love the ninth man. I can't wait. When I first signed to the Shock, I was just on YouTube looking at the fans and seeing how the atmosphere was going to be so I can't wait to see it," said defensive back Cedric Poole.
If you're either a fan in the stands or watching on TV, the #1 thing you want to watch out for is the Shock's defense. They have been phenomenal the past three weeks, holding opponents to 29.5 points per game, which is #1 in the IFL.
"It feels great," said Poole. "We go in and put in the work every day, and it feels good to go out and reap the benefits of it. I just want to keep putting in the work, keep reaping the benefits, keep it contagious, and do it over and over again."
"That's a stress reliever, so to speak," said McCullum. "I know my defense got my back. It's going down and I don't worry at all. I try to coach those guys up to make sure they know what they doing because I know their edge is better than ours. We're still learning on offense. I love them to death."
The Spokane Shock take on the Northern Arizona Wranglers at 7 pm on Saturday on our sister station KSKN.
