April 21, 2007
NORMAL, Ill. -
Saturday's 149-play scrimmage ended up being the final practice of the spring for the Illinois State football team. The ISU offense scored five touchdowns, all of which came during a third-and-goal situation from the 2-yard line, while the Redbird defense forced three turnovers.
"This was a good day and a good day to end on," head coach Denver Johnson said. "We'll wrap it up today, but we will meet tomorrow to wrap up a bunch of house-cleaning items."
Even though the day was good enough to end spring camp on, Johnson was not pleased with the offense's three turnovers and the 18 penalties that were called during the scrimmage.
"I'm really happy with the spring, but I was a little disappointed today," said Johnson. "I didn't think we looked very crisp. We had too many missed assignments, foolish penalties, turnovers and missed tackles. We had a real rash of missed assignments today, particularly offensively."
The scrimmage marked the sixth straight day the Redbirds were on the practice field.
"I was disappointed that we didn't look sharper, but I understand it too," Johnson said. "We have had some difficulty this spring with a lot of distractions and (Saturday) was the sixth straight day we've been out here. Physical fatigue starts to effect your mental concentration too. I'm not happy with it, but I understand it and I'm not alarmed by it. We have a chance to become a very good football team."
Each Redbird quarterback passed for a touchdown during the goal line drill. Senior Luke Drone found Garin Harcar in the flat for the touchdown, while Kevin Brockway tossed a pass to Eyad Salem for a score. Preston Earl connected with Mike Slack on a 2-yard touchdown pass.
On the ground, both Rafael Rice and Alan Abrams punched it into the end zone from two yards out. Geno Blow led the running backs with 33 yards on 15 carries, while Salem was the top receiver with nine catches for 116 yards. Drone led the Redbirds in passing with 163 yards on 14-for-18 passing.
Chris Garrett wrestled the ball loose from Jake Rourke in the end zone to pick off a Kevin Brockway pass. Brent Holtz and Kyle Siskowic each added fumble recoveries.
NOTES: Casey Kociuba left the scrimmage with a sprained left shoulder. Tony Trujillo suffered a sprained right ankle late in the scrimmage
STATISTICS:
Rushing - Blow 15-33, Abrams 15-24, Moore 14-21, R. Rice 10-23, Kpandeyenge 8-12, Drone 1-4, Earl 4-3, Brockway 2-(-12).
Passing - Drone 14-18-0-163, Earl 16-27-0-110, Brockway 7-15-1-65.
Receiving - Salem 9-116, Weiner 5-63, Adams 4-26, Rourke 3-52, Paschal 3-27, Dahl 2-16, Harcar 2-11, Whigham 1-15, Zumbahlen 1-7, Blow 1-5, Mordis 1-3, Slack 1-2, R. Rice 1-(-1), Abrams 1-(-4), Kpandeyenge 1-(-4).
Tackles - Hemphill 4-6-10, Stewart 3-6-9, Cucci 3-5-8, Hronec 1-7-8, Williams 4-3-7, Caesar 3-4-7, Carroll 2-5-7, Wilson 1-6-7, Trujillo 4-2-6, Westbrook 3-3-6, Siskowic 1-5-6, Sheering 0-6-6, Speer 3-2-5, Greiner 3-1-4, Piton 2-2-4, Osifalujo 2-2-4, Kociuba 3-0-3, Tate 2-1-3, Rivas 1-2-3, Nelson 1-2-3, Thomas 1-1-2, Corcoran 1-1-2, Holtz 0-2-2, Garrett 1-1-2, Tonsul 1-1-2, Soyebo 0-1-1, Hunter 1-0-1.
Tackles for Loss - Stewart 3, Truijillo 2, Cucci 1.5, Hunter 1, Osifalujo 1, Hemphill 1, Wilson 1, Thomas 1, Hronec 1, Williams 1, Piton 1, Westbrook 1, Rivas 1, Speer .5.
Sacks - Williams 1.
Interceptions - Garrett 1.
Pass Break Ups - Osifalujo 2, Siskowic 1, Hemphill 1, Greiner 1.
Fumble Recoveries - Holtz, 1, Siskowic 1.
Fumbles Forced - Speer 1, Piton 1.
