The Spokane Shock were crowned the National Conference Champions for the second straight year after they defeated the Tulsa Talons, 51-44, Saturday night at Spokane Arena. Spokane moves on to the ArenaCup and will face the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pioneers who won the American Conference Championship earlier Saturday evening.

This will be the second meeting of the season between the Pioneers and the Shock. In their first meeting of the season, the Shock defeated the Pioneers 56-52 in Spokane. With tonight's win over the Talons, the Shock were a perfect 11-0 at home in 2009 throughout the regular season and the playoffs.

In a game that was billed as one of the greatest Conference Championships in af2 history, the top-seeded Shock and the second seeded Talons delivered one of the most entertaining games in league history.

Coming into tonight's game, much of the credit for the Talons' 15-win season was given to their powerful offense that averaged 74.5 points per game in the first two rounds of the post-season. Led by QB Justin Allgood, the Talons lived up to their reputation scoring on their first drive of the game with a five-yard strike to WR Carlese Franklin. Tulsa's offense continued to pour it on and took a 14-3 lead at the end of the first quarter.

In the second quarter, the Shock's offense began to find a rhythm and scored 20 points in the final frame of the first-half. The Shock scored early in the quarter on a nine-yard touchdown strike to WR Charles Dillon from QB Nick Davila. Davila scored the second touchdown - on a one -yard run - and followed it up with a six-yard touchdown pass to WR Markee White.

Tulsa's offense continued to keep pace with Spokane scoring on every possession in the first half.

"If you don't get pressure on that QB (Justin Allgood), he's going to do exactly what he did, for the first two quarters" Head Coach Adam Shackleford said.

In the second half, the Shock's offense continued to build on the momentum they established in the second quarter. WR Andy Olson became the go-to receiver and got things going with a 22-yard touchdown strike for Spokane's first lead of the night.

Tulsa fired back with a 14-yard touchdown pass to WR Jeff Hughley to take back the lead from Spokane. Olson, who led Spokane in receptions (12), responded with a 6-yard touchdown pass to regain a Shock lead.

The heavy-weight bout continued as each team exchanged scores that included 10 points from Tulsa and 14 points from Spokane. With just over a minute left in the game, Allgood stepped onto the field for Tulsa's final drive and last chance to tie the game.
After Allgood completed three-straight passes, he had his offense just outside the redzone on Spokane's 11-yard line. But Spokane's defense wasn't going to let them get any further and put relentless pressure on Allgood that forced four straight incompletions and clinched the victory for the Shock.

"Our defensive line has been the heart and soul of our team all year," Shackleford said. "And they came up big tonight just when we needed them."

Score by Quarters       1     2      3      4      Score
Tulsa Talons             14    13     7     10     44        Record: (15-4)
Spokane Shock           3    20    14     14     51        Record: (18-1)

JLS Ironman of the Game: TULSA - WR/KR Jeff Hughley
Aaron's Defensive Player of the Game: SPOKANE - DB Virgil Gray
Russell Athletic Offensive Player of the Game: TULSA - QB Justin Allgood
The Big Game Catch of the Game: SPOKANE - WR Markee White's 3rd Q TD reception

Attendance: 9,247