Spring success
4/14/2011 10:54:00 PM | Football
On the scoreboard, the final score read White 47, Orange 46 but head coach Willie Fritz felt the annual spring training game Thursday night ended in a tie.
Both the offense and defense showed promising things as the Sam Houston State football squad wrapped up spring practice with an hour and half long intrasquad scrimmage.
"It was a good night," the coach said. "The number one thing is that nobody got hurt. You always worry about that. I saw some good explosive plays from both sides of the ball. We played the young guys at the end so it kind of skewed the scoring a little bit, but I told them it was a tie. We are happy about that because both of them did a good job."
The defense, which wore orange jerseys, shut down the offense (white) on the first two series of the spring game. The White got rolling after that.
Freshman quarterback Brian Bell helped the White pick up its initial first down of the game with a 9-yard pass to Richard Sincere. Bell later scrambled 25 yards on an option keeper and capped the scoring drive with a pass back across the field to All-Southland Conference running back Tim Flanders for a 15-yard touchdown.
Bell also hit freshman running back Ryan Wilson for a 30-yard pass and Flanders broke off a 10-yard run to highlight the next scoring drive. Miguel Antonio put three points on the board with a 36-yard field goal.
The Bearkats came into the spring wanting to add a downfield passing attack to go with one of the SLC's top running games. The White did hit some explosive pass plays Thursday.
Junior college transfer quarterback Si'Darius Blackshire found senior Brandon Closner for a 26-yard gain. Closner was also on the receiving end of a 19-yard pass from Bell.
Blackshire also connected with wide receiver Trey Diller for a 33-yard pass before redshirt freshman Matt Merkins closed the game with back-to-back 30-yard touchdown passes to Grant Merritt and Chad Froechtenicht.
"We are starting to get more receivers to step up," said Flanders, who also had five carries for 26 yards. "We have new passing schemes that we just need to get down. Once we get those down, we are going to have a very explosive offense."
The defense also had its share of big plays Thursday. The Orange finished with 18 plays which resulted in a loss of yards. Darius Taylor, Ed Decambre, Robert Shaw, Preston Sanders, Gary Lorance and Josh Browning were some of the guys in on those plays.
The Bearkats did limited special teams, but Antonio had a good night kicking. He had two 36-yard field goals, one from 41 and another from 34 to finish 4-for-4. He also connected on all four extra points.
"I thought Miguel did a great job," Fritz said. "He has really been on fire. The other day he was six for six on long-range field goals with a rush coming at him. I think he has the chance to be one of the top kickers in the Southland Conference."
The game certainly had the feel of Saturday afternoons in the fall. A nice crowd turned out to enjoy the cool weather, the Sam Houston band, cheerleaders and Orange Pride dance team. The fraternities and sororities even got in on the action with a couple of competitions on the field during the breaks.
There was also a 40-yard dash competition before the start of the game with wide receiver Torrance Williams earning bragging rights as the fastest Bearkat.
"I really appreciate everyone coming out," Fritz added. "This was the first time we have done this. It went really well. I appreciate the fraternities and sororities being here, the spirit groups and all the fans. We had a pretty good turnout."
"That's what I told the players after the game was over, that it was a tie," Fritz said. "We saw things we liked both on offense and defense."
Bell completed six passes for 92 yards and rushed seven times for 32 yards and a touchdown. Flanders rushed five times for 26 yards and Ridgeway Frank ran four times for 13 years. Blackshire was 2 of 3 passing for 49 yards.
