SFA Sees Balanced Effort in First Scrimmage
8/16/2014 12:00:00 AM | Football
NACOGDOCHES, Texas – Stephen F. Austin saw a balanced effort for the first scrimmage of the 2014 fall camp, highlighted by a few big plays on both sides of the ball on a warm afternoon at Homer Bryce Stadium.
“You could tell there was some tired legs out there, coming off a long week of practice,” said head coach Clint Conque. “But like I told them, we’re not going to slow down, we’re not going to backup. We need to learn how to play through fatigue. There is a lot we still need to work on, but we did have some guys step up and there were some positive signs. We just need to build on that as we hit the second half of fall camp.”
SFA ran through 88 plays on the first scrimmage as the offense combined for 410 yards of total offense, including 312 through the air. Zach Conque completed 18 of his 25 passes for 146 yards and a touchdown while Joe Minden went 7-of-13 for 120 yards and a touchdown strike. Hunter Taylor was 4-of-8 for 33 yards with walk-on Sam Smith going 2-for-2 for 13 yards.
Aaron Thomas was the ‘Jacks’ leading receiver, pulling in a game-high eight passes for 64 yards and both touchdown receptions of the afternoon, including a nine-yarder from Minden and a six-yarder from Conque. Bradley Krall had four receptions for 35 yards with Marquis Mosley leading the team with 86 yards on three catches.
Aaron Piper and Justice Liggins each had three catches, posting 39 and 14 yards, respectively. In all, 12 different receivers caught passes on the afternoon.
On the ground, Gus Johnson had eight rushes for 68 yards, including a 40-yard touchdown scamper early in the scrimmage, breaking it free down the far sideline. Johnson also had a pair of catches for 18 yards. Cameron Washington added 11 touches for 46 yards while Joshawa West carried four times for eight yards.
Defensively, Chip Jones led the was for the purple unit with eight tackles, including five solo and 1.5 tackles for loss. Collin Garrett finished with seven stops on the afternoon, including a pair of sacks. With Trey Vallier and Ahmad Muhammad each notching six tackles as Vallier added a pair of pass breakups.
In all, the SFA defense combined for seven sacks on the afternoon with Donald Bryant, Mitchell Zimmerle, Nick Bryant, Ashante Joseph and Lance Skyler joining Garrett in the sack column. The defensive unit also posted 14 tackles for loss as Zimmerle notched a pair with D. Bryant and Skyler credited with 1.5 each.
The scrimmage marks the end of week two of fall camp, leaving SFA just one week remaining before getting into its game week preparation for Kansas State on August 30th. Coach Conque expressed how crucial this final week will be as SFA prepares for the 2014 schedule.
“For one more week, we’re still focusing on ourselves,” Conque said. “You’ll probably see a younger dose for the next two scrimmages as we are still working on establishing our identity. Once we break that scrimmage, Wednesday night, we’ll begin our preparations for Kansas State. The clock is ticking and the season will be here before we know it.”
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