The Illinois State football team closed out the 2004 training camp with an intrasquad scrimmage in front of the freshmen student body Saturday night at Hancock Stadium and senior quarterback Yance Vaughan showed off the long ball.
Vaughan, who started the scrimmage completing only one of his first six pass attempts, finished the evening with 270 yards on a 9-for-18 passing and three touchdowns. His slow start was definitely attributed to the Redbird defense which held the offense scoreless during the first half, a 30-minute running clock, but in the second half Vaughan caught fire with a pair of TD passes to Laurnt Robinson and another to Avery Massengale.
Head coach Denver Johnson was pleased with how Vaughan finished camp.
Yance has had a great training camp and I thought he performed well in some of the scripted situations, Johnson said. He has a great presence in the huddle and the guys have responded to him nicely. He has shown some leadership skills and I think he is going to have a good year for us.
Running back Earl Newby was the first to break into the endzone for the Redbirds on a one-yard run during a goal line situation. Later, after a holding penalty pushed the offense to a third and goal situation from the 18, Vaughan found Robinson on a post route in the middle of the endzone. The duo connected a few minutes later on a third and two situation from the offenses own 25-yardline as Robinson got behind the coverage and scooted 75 yards for the touchdown.
Vaughan tossed his third touchdown on a 43-yard strike to Massengale, while the Redbirds leading rusher, Demetrus Johnson, closed out the scoring with a 60-yard scamper down the left sideline. Johnson finished with 120 yards on 16 carries.
Despite Johnsons big gain, the Redbird defense look aggressive and quick all evening, especially against the run, and caught their coachs eye.
I think were getting better on defense, Johnson said. I think our front six is getting stronger and the core there is shaping up nicely. Cameron Siskowic and Niall Campbell continue to compete for the spot next to Boomer (Grigsby) and of course Boomer is playing great, as always. Im pleased with where we are heading defensively and we need to continue to thicken it up in the back end.
Grigsby and Siskowic led the defense with six tackles apiece, while Campbell and Bill Hronec each posted an interception. Siskowic, along with Brent Hawkins and Mike Blough, each added a sack to cap off a successful camp in Johnsons mind.
(This scrimmage) has brought the training camp portion of this to a close, Johnson said. We will back off a bit for the next couple of days and get back onto the practice field on Tuesday starting to work on game prep at that time. These guys are wore slick right now. They are worn out. We have worn them out for two weeks and boy, Im proud of them. Its been a very successful training camp.
The Redbirds open the season on Thursday, September 2, when they face Saint Xavier at Hancock Stadium. Kick-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.
