FALL CAMP REPORT 7: Redbirds Wrap Up Camp With Red-White Scrimmage

NORMAL, Ill. – On a hot day in the Twin Cities, the Illinois State football team welcomed new ISU students, family and friends to Jay and Lori Bergman Field at Hancock Stadium on Saturday for the annual fall Red-White Scrimmage.

Not nearly as long as last week's marathon 150-plus play scrimmage, the final on of fall training featured several situations, including driving the field, overtime, a goal line situation and a 2-minute drill. Following the workout, Redbird Head Coach Brock Spack announced this year's team captains in Tommy Rittenhouse (offense), Tye Niekamp (Defense) and Dylan Calabrese (Special Teams) before the Big Red Marching Machine took the field to play for students before taking the annual back to school picture at midfield.

Scoring Summary:
•    The first score of the scrimmage came on the first drive of the day, as Rittenhouse and the first-team offense drove 73 yards in 11 plays to score the first touchdown on a 29-yard pass from Rittenhouse to Javon Charles.
•    In the first overtime period, the first-team unit was back at it as Rittenhouse needed just four plays to find paydirt as he connected with Scotty Presson Jr. on a 12-yard touchdown pass.
•    The second-team unit was also effective in the overtime scenario, however a holding penalty on second down put them behind the sticks early. Fortunately, on fourth-and-long, Beckham Pellant connected for 37 yards to Stevan Gravic to put the team at the 4-yard line which set up Matt Lawson for a 3-yard touchdown run.
•    A 39-yard field goal of the foot of Michael Cosentino added three more points to the scoreboard in the final overtime period of the day.
•    As things moved to the goal line session, the defense held the offense to a pair of field goals from Matt Maldonado (31 yards) and Cosentino (25 yards).
•    In both mayday field goal attempts, Maldonado and Cosentino were both good from 42 yards out which led to the final three drives of the game.
•    The final touchdown of the scrimmage was the longest on the day, as freshman quarterback Chase Kwiatkowski found Travis Stamm wide open down the field for a 66-yard score to cap things off.

Passing Leaders:
•    Tommy Rittenhouse: 7-for-9, 70 yards, 2 TD 
•    Beckham Pellant: 5-for-14, 72 yards
•    Chase Kwiatkowski: 1-for-2, 66 yards, 1 TD

Rushing Leaders:
•    Wenkers Wright: 3 carries, 20 yards
•    Matt Lawson: 4 carries, 10 yards, 1 TD 
•    Cal Martine: 3 carries, 11 yards

Receiving Leaders:
•    Scotty Presson Jr.: 3 rec., 35 yards, 1 TD
•    Ian Willis: 3 rec., 17 yards 
•    Wenkers Wright: 2 rec.,14 yards
•    Javon Charles: 1 rec., 29 yards, 1 TD
•    Travis Stamm: 1 rec., 66 yards, 1 TD

Defensive Leaders:
•    Dexter Niekamp: 3 tackles, 1 sack, 1 TFL
•    Jack Oliver: 3 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 sack
•    Chris Taylor: 3 tackles, 2 PBU 
•    Mason Kaplan: 3 tackles, 1 TFL
•    Anthony Corona: 2 tackles, 1 INT 
•    Tye Niekamp: 2 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 sack
•    Shadwel Nkuba II: 2 tackles, 1 PBU

Up Next: 
The Redbirds have a brief practice on Sunday, before the freshmen and transfers take part in the annual Walk of Champions ceremony as part of Welcome Week at ISU. The team will then have an off day on Monday for the first day of classes, before returning to the field Tuesday morning for practice at 8:30 a.m.

For continued Redbird Football updates, photos, and video follow the team's official X (@RedbirdFB), Instagram (isuredbirdfb) and TikTok (@redbirdfb) accounts and visit GoRedbirds.com.

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