Freshman QB Leads 4th Quarter Comeback
3/22/2007 12:00:00 AM | Football
March 22, 2007
NACOGDOCHES - The Stephen F. Austin Lumberjack football team gave fans of the purple and white something to remember during the upcoming summer. SFA closed out spring ball Thursday night with the annual Purple & White game that saw the Purple team rally for 20 unanswered points to defeat the white, 20-17.
"I was very pleased with the effort on both sides tonight," said SFA head coach J.C. Harper. "It was very competitive with a lot of excitement and that's what makes it fun. I can't say enough about how the Purple team played."
The early stages of the game shaped up as a blowout for the White team. First-team All-Southland Conference quarterback Danny Southall was on target from the word go, completing 23-of-40 passes for 195 yards and two touchdowns. Southall's first touchdown was a 17-yard strike to freshman Dustin Kempf who made a nice diving catch to put the White squad up 7-0. After a Cory Long field goal made it a 10-0 game, Southall led the White team on a drive.
Southall's second touchdown pass went to one of his other tight ends. Transfer Joe Savoie caught pass from four yards out to give his squad a 17-0 advantage. It appeared the rout was on, but freshman quarterback Jeremy Moses, along with a charged up Purple defense, would make the final statement in this game.
Moses had a tough night early on unable to move the chains, and throwing an interception to senior defensive back Johnny Thacker. But Moses proved that he has a very short memory completing 6-of-his-final-9 passes, throwing for a touchdown and carrying the ball for the game-winning score.
Moses completed 16-of-26 passes for 219 yards during the game. He hit senior Nick Rhodes seven times for 63 yards, and classmate Tyrell Williams six times for 76 yards and one touchdown.
Moses hit Williams for the Purple team's first score of the game to pull to within 14 points, 17-6. After the defense came up with a stop, the Purple team was right back on the attack, and went to a little razzle-dazzle for the score. After moving the ball to midfield, Moses pitched the ball to Rodney Freeman who hit Rhodes for a 51-yard scoring strike. The Purple went for the two-point conversion but Greg White came up short by mere inches.
After coming up with another stop, the Purple defense handed the ball back over to Moses and the offense. Moses drove the ball 79 yards down to the White one-yard line. After a Robert Castillo rush up the middle came up short, and a Moses pass to fell to ground wide of its target, the rookie called his own number. Rolling out to the left, Moses out sprinted the White defense to the goal line and dove to paydirt for the score. This time the Purple would complete the two-point conversion to take a 20-17 lead.
"Jeremy is what he is and that's a fighter," said Harper. "He got roughed up by (Tim) Knicky a couple times early, but getting hit by Knicky can do that. The impressive thing is Moses came right back and never quit. We're excited that he is a Lumberjack."
Southall and the White team had one more chance. Southall got the offense to midfield after completing a seven-yard pass to Kempf for a first down, but the Purple defense stiffened up. Facing fourth-n-11, Southall dropped back and tried to hit a receiver, but his pass was batted away by senior Bug Aymond.
The Purple defense was led by redshirt freshman Terrance Nurse and senior Bug Aymond. Nurse posted seven tackles and two pass breakups, while Aymond led the Purple with eight stops and one deflection. The White defense was led by sophomore Tim Knicky who recorded five tackles and three sacks. Junior Jonathan Patke added five tackles and a pass deflection, while Thacker recorded four tackles, an interception and a deflection.
Sophomore Vincent Pervis led the White unit's ground game with nine carries for 73 yards. Southall also added 10 carries for 61 yards. Senior Robert Castillo led the Purple's ground attack with 11 carries for 46 yards.
Southall's favorite target was Joe Savoie who hauled in eight passes for 70 yards and a score. Sophomore Contrevious Parks added six catches for 39 yards, while junior Dominique Edison caught five passes for 39 yards. Rhodes finished the night with eight catches for 114 yards and the score for the Purple team.
-SFA-
