`Jacks Offense Strong in First Scrimmage
4/2/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
April 2, 2004
NACOGDOCHES - The Stephen F. Austin Lumberjack football team held a 100-play scrimmage Friday night at Homer Bryce Stadium that pitted the first-team offense against the first-team defense and the second-team offense against second-team defense.
The Lumberjacks offense wasted no-time putting points on the scoreboard as Michael Williams hit Chance Dennis for a 97-yard scoring strike. The pass was one of four that Dennis hauled in on the night for 142 yards. Williams was 10-of-14 (71 percent) for 219 yards with a touchdown and only one interception.
Williams also got the job done on the ground as carried the ball six times for 35 yards, including touchdown runs of four and 23 yards.
The Lumberjacks got solid production from their stable of running backs. Transfer Derek Farmer carried the ball five times for 27 yards, but was just as effective coming out of the backfield as a receiver. Farmer caught two passes for 49 yards, including a 34-yard strike from Williams that he took to the one-yard line.
Gary Allen was the Lumberjacks leading ground-gainer, as he carried the ball six times for 42 yards, with a long of 29 yards. Ron Middleton added 33 yards on seven carries, while Michael Motte recorded 13 yards on six carries.
Zeke Dixon started slow connecting only one of his first five passes, but finished night strong, going 8-of-21 (38 percent) for 87 yards with only one interception. Dixon hit six different receivers on the night, including Garrett Inman who caught three passes for 32 yards. Freshman Danny Southall was 4-of-7 (57 percent) with no interceptions in limited action.
The Lumberjack defense had its bright spots as well recording two interceptions, one fumble recovery and a goal-line stand.
The Lumberjacks defensive unit was led by Josh Crocker who recorded six tackles and three sacks. TeRai Lawson and Andre Williams each had four tackles, while Erik Wilson recorded three tackles and one fumble recovery. Tarran Wooden made a nice tackle in the open field to stop a drive at the one-yard line. Jake Criss and Keldrick Holman recorded the two SFA picks.
Kicker Ryan Rossner finished the night 3-of-5 on field goals, despite playing with a sprained ankle. Rossner connected from distances of 18, 20 and 24 yards.
"I was very pleased with the scrimmage tonight," said SFA head coach Mike Santiago. "I saw some good things on both sides of the ball, but I also saw some things that we need to work on. We put the quarterbacks in some pretty tough game management situations tonight that we wouldn't normally do, but I thought they handled it well. The defense played good with their backs to the end zone. We saw some really good things from all of our running backs. I thought they all ran hard with the football tonight. The receivers did some good things as well. We had a lot of people that we held out of the game, but I thought it was a good first scrimmage. I also want to compliment the performance of Ryan Rossner. He played with a sprained ankle tonight and still connected on three field goals."
-SFA-
