It wasn’t pretty but it was still mission accomplished on the road for the Pittsburgh Power.
The Pittsburgh Power (5-3) are coming home with an important win after defeating the Spokane Shock (5-3) 52-41 Friday night in a game that was too close for comfort for the Power. Pittsburgh was up 17 late in the third quarter before giving up two touchdowns in the blink of an eye (one offensive and one defensive) to see Spokane climb to within four points.
The key to this game was the inconsistent play by new Spokane starter Donovan Porterie, making his AFL debut. Porterie was great at times and awful at others. He threw three interceptions and lost a fumble on the night, two of the interceptions being thrown directly to Brandon Freeman as if he was the intended receiver. Freeman also recovered the Porterie fumble to account for three turnovers on the night. Virgil Gray also had an interception for the Power defense.
Tommy Grady became the 14th player in AFL history to throw for more than 20,000 yards and finished the night 33 of 55 for 285 yards, seven touchdowns and two interceptions. His top target was Shaun Kauleinamoku, a former Spokane Shock player, who had 13 catches for 150 yards and two touchdowns. Tyrone Goard continued his strong play recently with four catches for 33 yards and three touchdowns including a diving over-the-wall touchdown grab which should likely make AFL highlight reels this week.
Pittsburgh was their own worst enemy at many times tonight as they committed 10 penalties for 62 yards, many of them procedural penalties like false starts and delay of games. Spokane also won the special teams battle most of the night with a huge in return yards 138-25.
The bottom line remains that the Power went on the road in one of the toughest arenas in the league to play and they found a way to bring a win back home with them to Pittsburgh. Coach Ron James will have some things to correct but it’s a lot easier to fix mistakes after a win than feel sorry for yourselves after a loss. The win also means the Power have already exceeded their win total from last year.
Pittsburgh returns home May 17th to host the Los Angeles KISS.
Photo Courtesy of KHQ.com
