Davila powers Shock to win

It was not the Super Bowl, not even close, but Nick Davila accomplished something Saturday night that only two players in NFL history have done. He won a championship as a left-handed quarterback.

Ken Stabler did it for the Oakland Raiders and Steve Young for the San Francisco 49ers.

Davila plays in arena football2, so he's not joining that short list, but the lefty did lead the Spokane Shock to a 74-27 victory over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pioneers in ArenaCup 10 before a crowd of 5,846 at the Orleans Arena.

"This is my first championship at any level in football," said Davila, who passed for 287 yards and seven touchdowns. "It's very important to me. It's really emotional."

Spokane finished the season 19-1, and its 47-point win was the largest in ArenaCup history.

The Pioneers (16-4) were subjected to Shock treatment in the second half, when Spokane went on a 41-0 scoring run to erase a one-point halftime deficit.

"We were a couple plays away from breaking it open in the first half," Davila said. "Our defense did a great job. We scored when we needed to and we kept chopping wood. We knew if we played hard and played Shock football, we could blow them out."

Davila, a high school football coach in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., started only two games in his college career at Cincinnati. He was the losing quarterback in last year's ArenaCup.

But he outdueled Ryan Vena, one of the top passers in af2 history. Vena's performance was the low point of his season.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton coach Rich Ingold made a statement before the game that turned out prophetic, unfortunately for him.

"If we protect the football, we win. I promise," Ingold said. "Bottom line, I feel we've got the best quarterback in the league. If he goes out and plays his game and doesn't turn it over, we win."

Vena lost two fumbles and threw four interceptions, as the Pioneers' offense moved at the speed of a covered wagon.

Davila threw two touchdown passes to Raul Vijil in the third quarter, and Stanley Franks' 48-yard interception return put Spokane ahead 40-21. Davila passed for two more scores early in the fourth quarter.

Vena was shaky early, throwing an interception near the Spokane goal line, and the Shock took advantage.

Davila's 11-yard touchdown pass to Vijil put Spokane up 14-0 with 2:20 left in the first quarter.

About a minute later, Vena got the Pioneers back in it with a 33-yard scoring strike to Irvin Campbell. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton evened the score in the second quarter when Royce Morgan recovered a blocked field goal and ran 15 yards for a touchdown.

The Shock struck back on Davila's 24-yard pass to Andy Olson. But Spokane's point-after kick failed, and the Pioneers went into halftime leading 21-20 on Campbell's 1-yard touchdown run.

• NOTES -- Spokane won its second ArenaCup championship, also taking the title in 2006. ... The Shock defeated Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in the regular season, 56-52 on July 11 in Spokane. The Pioneers' Vena threw four interceptions in that game.