Northwest Notes October 26, 2010
Shock add Nekos Brown; remains in same division
SPOKANE - Defensive lineman Nekos Brown has been added to Spokane Shock roster for the 2011 Arena Football League season.
Most recently, Brown (6-2, 250 pounds) spent time with the Washington Redskins and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers earlier this season. Prior to his professional experience, Brown had a decorated career at Virginia Tech where he racked up 112 tackles with 11.5 sacks.
This will be Brown's rookie season in arena football.
• With five new teams joining the AFL next season, the defending champion Shock will remain in the National Conference's Western Division
Spokane will be joined by Utah, Arizona and AFL newbie San Jose.
The Central Division will consist of Chicago, Dallas, Iowa, Kansas City and Tulsa.
In the American Conference, the South Division will consist of Georgia, Jacksonville, New Orleans, Orlando and Tampa Bay, and the East Division will include Cleveland, Milwaukee, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
During the 18-game schedule, each team will play every opponent in their division twice. Teams will also play the opponents in their conference once.
EWU women picked to finish second in Big Sky
The Eastern Washington University women's basketball team was picked second in the 2010-11 Big Sky preseason media and coaches polls.
Eastern finished 19-12 overall and won the conference at 12-4.
Former Post Falls guard Jordan Schoening is a sophomore for the Eagles.
For the 10th time in 11 years, Montana was selected as the preseason favorite in both polls.
Portland State, the defending Big Sky tournament champion, was picked just behind Eastern. Montana State, who upset EWU in the semifinals of the BSC tournament last season, was the No. 4 team in the polls, while Idaho State and Sacramento State tied for fifth in the coaches poll and came in fifth and sixth in the media's.
Chiefs Cowen named to Team WHL
Spokane Chief captain Jared Cowen has been named to the roster of Team WHL that will compete against Team Russia in the 2010 Subway Super Series. Cowen, a silver medal winner for Team Canada at last year's World Junior Hockey Championship, will be on the Team WHL roster for the third straight year.
Team WHL will face Team Russia in games five and six of the series played Nov. 17 in Kamloops, British Columbia, and on Nov. 18 in Prince George, B.C. Cowen will play for Team WHL in the Nov. 17 game at Kamloops.
The 2010 Subway Super Series will take place Nov. 8-18 and marks the eighth straight year that teams of CHL All-Stars have competed against Team Russia in preparation for the World Junior Hockey Championships. The Subway Super Series is part of the evaluation process prior to Team Canada's final selection camp in December. This season, Canada will be competing for its 13th straight medal at the 2011 tournament in Buffalo, N.Y.
EWU's Johnson Big Sky player of the week
CHENEY - Junior strong safety Matt Johnson was selected as the Big Sky Conference Defensive Player of the Week for the second time this season and third time in his career following Eastern Washington University's 28-24 Big Sky Conference football win over Sacramento State last Saturday.
The 2007 graduate of Tumwater (Wash.) High School finished with nine tackles, an interception (the 14th of his career) and had three passes broken up for the Eagles. Eastern, which is ranked eighth for the second week in a row in this week's Sports Network/Fathead.com top 25 NCAA Football Championship Subdivision poll, plays Portland State this Saturday in Hillsboro, Ore. Johnson had a Big Sky Conference record four interceptions last season versus the Vikings.
Against Sac State, he returned his first-quarter interception 42 yards to set-up EWU's first score en route to a 21-0 lead. Later in the quarter he broke-up a pass on third down that led to Sac State turning the ball over on downs. His third pass broken up came on a hail mary pass on the final play of the day, a play that he could have secured for his 15th career interception but instead safely batted the ball to the ground to end the game.
He and his twin brother Zach Johnson, a starting weak-side linebacker, have had big games for four consecutive weeks. In that quartet of games -- all victories -- they have combined for 79 tackles, three interceptions and seven passes broken up.
Matt now ranks fourth in school history in interceptions with 14, and he is now just four interceptions away from the school record of 18 set by Mike Richter from 1971-75. The only other players ahead of him are former NFL 10-year veteran Kurt Schulz (EWU letter winner 1988-91) and long-time Canadian Football League standout Jackie Kellogg (1990-93) with 17 each.