SHOCKERS TAME MAVERICKS IN HOME OPENER 

March 24, 2007 Lacey, WA     

The South Sound Shockers football team moved to 2-0 on the season with a 33-15 dismantling of the Yakima Mavericks on the rain drenched turf at South Sound Stadium on Saturday. 

The Shockers battled the elements, turnovers and a problematic special teams day that saw all of Yakima's points set up by miscues in the punting and return game. The Mavericks all-world kicker Joe Smith (Central Washington) made the Shockers pay for the miscues by hitting 2 field goals deep in South Sound territory. Another of his pro-quality punts resulted in a muff that was recovered by the Mavericks deep in Shocker territory. Smith was a participant in an NFL invitation only kickers combine a year ago performing extremely well, but failed the flexibility testing. 

A Maverick TD in the fourth quarter came following a blocked punt that was recovered on the Shocker 2. An intentional grounding penalty in the endzone following a bad snap, gave Yakima a safety early in the 1st period as the Shockers led by a score of 7-5. 

The defense turned in another stellar performance holding the Mavericks to 4 first downs (3 by penalty) and less than 70 yards of total offense. Micah Tanaka (Univ. of Puget Sound) scooped up a Maverick fumble and returned it 30 yards for a TD. Randy Alderman, Marc Larson, and Tanaka recorded interceptions on the day. 

Offensively the Shockers were led by running back Terrell Smith (Washington High) who scored twice on the day including a spectacular 80 yard burst through the heart of the Maverick defense as the 240 pounder outraced everyone to the endzone. Smith finished the day by raising the bar on 3 team records (longest rush from scrimmage: 80 yards; most yards rushing in a game: 126 yards; highest per carry average in a game: 9.7 ypc). Quarterback John Stewart (Bethel College) added a rushing TD and passing TD to wideout Bobby Poeltl (Southern Oregon).

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