Illinois State quarterback Mike Souza threw for two touchdowns and passed for another to the lead the white team to a 84-53 win, Saturday, in the Annual Red/White Scrimmage at Hancock Stadium.
We really put together some offensive weapons today, head coach Denver Johnson said. There are several players that have made a difference for us on that side of the ball. I am encouraged by what I am seeing from our offense.
The scrimmage capped the 15-session spring practice. Souza blew open the scoring early for the white team with a 67-yard run that put the offense ahead 11-1. The offense continued to dominate after Tristan Davis scored the second touchdown of the game, a seven-yard run.
The defense made a small run when Cedric Jackson intercepted a Yance Vaughan pass which was credited for six points. Sha-Ron Edwards scored the next TD with a 13-yard run with twenty minutes to play in the first half as the offense led 35-7.
While the running backs were scoring early, a 46-yard pass from Souza to Dwayne Smith with :55 seconds before halftime kept the offense on top of the game as the white team led 56-11 at the break. The next touchdown after the break was from Demetrus Johnson who had a 14-yard run.
The defense showed some more signs of progress two minutes later when Andrew Papoccia picked off Steve Kolodziej and Leon Kittrell blocked a field goal and returned it for a 58-yard touchdown which resulted in 13 points for the defens, but the offense still led 71-41.
With just 1:41 remaining in the game, Joe Walkins capped off the scoring with a 41-yard touchdown pass from Souza before the scrimmage clock ran out. While the game was mostly weighed by the offense, Johnson was skeptical to pass judgement on the defense.
I am skeptical to pass any judgement on our defense right now, Johnson said. We have to get better, but we have recruited some help that will hopefully help us out. Boomer played more than I wanted him to today which was very little time anyway, and Ray Robinson was out of town attending a funeral. Those are your two leaders so I am not alarmed by the defense. We have good players and help coming so we will be much different looking come August.
