Defense wins Orange-White Spring Game 42-27
4/24/2010 1:34:00 PM | Football
By Gene Schallenberg Huntsville Item
As indicated by the final score, it was all about the Bearkats defense at the annual Orange and White spring football game Saturday morning at Bowers Stadium.
In a strictly offense versus defense format in which points were given for big plays, defensive stops and first downs, the Bearkat offense gained 254 yards, but produced only one touchdown and one field goal as the Orange squad (defense) won 42-28.
"We're still putting in a new offense, so of course the defense is going to be ahead," tight end T.J. Jones said. "We're still getting it down day by day, but slowly, we're getting better and better."
After going three-and-out in their first series, quarterbacks Bryan Randolph and Greg Sprowls led the offense on a 65-yard drive, which was capped by a 2-yard touchdown run by senior Vincent Dotson.
There wasn't much more for the offense to hang its hat on from that point forward, moving the chains just eight more times.
"I was disappointed with the display of football today," head coach Willie Fritz said. "I tell these guys all the time that every day is an interview, every day's an evaluation. The best way we can evaluate them is what they do on the football field.
"Some guys took advantage of it and did a very nice job and some guys didn't."
Part of the problem for the offense was dealing with the pressure of the defensive front. Defensive linemen and linebackers were breaking through the offensive line, creating havoc in the backfield. The offense had trouble getting into a rhythm and as a result, went three-and-out on seven occasions.
"We just want to go in there, do our work and get off the field," said sophomore defensive lineman J.T. Cleveland, who recorded a sack on Randolph midway through the spring game. "That's something I'm real proud of. That's what we strive for. I think we did pretty good today. Everybody put a lot of effort into it. The defense showed a lot today."
The offense had another opportunity to find the end zone with a first-and-goal from the 3-yard line.
Sophomore running back Kevin Matthews rushed for two yards to get to the 1, but the defense pushed the offense backward the next two plays. The offense had to settle for a 21-yard field goal from freshman Craig Alaniz.
"When you get to the goal line, no matter what happens, you've got to come out with seven points," Jones said. "Once you get down there, you can't settle for less than seven. It's crunch time in there. You have to do whatever you can to get into the end zone."
After going relatively penalty-free through the first part of the scrimmage, the offense started making mistakes, including several false-start penalties.
"Today we kind of went back to making our first-week mistakes," Fritz said. "The tough part of it is that we're putting in a new system. We've got a lot of new players, so we've got a lot of new things on that side of the ball. ... You've got to learn how to do the ABCs before you can get to the XYZs."
While struggling to get anything going, Jones insists that the offense has made strides in the past few weeks.
"From the first day of the spring until now, we've gotten tremendously better." the junior tight end said. "We've just got to get the chemistry down and we'll be fine by the fall. We've just got to hit the offseason hard every day and start getting more mentally tough."
The Sam Houston defense produced four quarterback sacks, blocked a field goal and totaled 15 tackles for losses .
Quarterback Bryan Randolph complete nine of 15 passes for 86 yards while Greg Sprowls went eight of 12 for 57 yards.
Junior linebacker Will Henry and sophomore safety Kenneth Jenkins were two defensive players Fritz lauded.
"You hate to just mention a couple of players you think have done well because you're going to leave somebody out, but Will and Kenneth have been consistently among our best each week of spring ball," Fritz said. "Day in, day out they have worked hard and had great springs."
