Palmer Noyes
football
By Joey Jones | App State Athletics
BOONE, NC— It was a chilly Boone afternoon as the sun set behind the Ricks Athletics Complex, which overlooks the west sideline of Kidd Brewer Stadium, but the Mountaineers’ offensive-defensive scramble was heating up.
Wednesday’s scrimmage was the second of the spring for App State and the head coach Shawn Clark liked the energy both sides brought to the field.
“I felt it was a lot more competitive on both sides of football (compared to last week’s first scrimmage),” Clark said. “On the first scrimmage, the defense really went offensive. Today, the offensive made some moves. I thought we attacked better and could let the football flow more in attack.”
run back Maquel Haywood And KanyRoberts showed outburst and vision behind a motivated offensive line to make Wednesday’s run game a success. That included a drive that saw Haywood pile up 50 yards on five carries, and two drives that ended with Roberts galloping into the end zone on touchdown runs of 3 and 15 yards.
Quarterbacks directed a total of 13 drives that started at various points on the field Joey Aguilar (six drives), Ryan Burger (five and David Hernandez (two). Of those 13, three ended in touchdowns, four in touchdowns Michael Hughes Field goal attempts (from 31, 40, and 49 while a 34-yarder was blocked by a returning All-America special teamer Milan Tucker), three on punts, two on turnovers, and one on a fourth-down defense stop.
In addition to Roberts’ two touchdown runs, Aguilar ended one of his drives by hitting just the right amount of touch on a six-yard throw Dashaun Davis in the back corner of the end zone.
Getting multiple catches on an even day for the passing game was Andersen CastleDavis, Michael Heisel, Christian Horn, Makai Jackson And Kaedin Robinson. Two of Hetzel’s three catches went for 20 yards or more. Coen Sutton added a pair of two-point conversion locks.
Leading the defensive line were three linemen who consistently put pressure on the backfield throughout the spring ShawnCollins (two bags), Kevin Haigler (two bags) and Michael Flechter (a sack). Donovan magic man and Tucker registered passport separations, Josiah Wyatt recovered a fumble and perhaps the biggest defensive play of the day came off a highlight reel Jordan favors Tackle that snatched the ball right out of Roberts’ hands after a nice catch in midfield.
In three goal-line scenarios within the 10, Burger found a tight end Miller Gibbs for a touchdown on the first drive, Aguilar found Davis for a score on the third drive, and the defense held strong in between.
This was the ninth of 15 spring exercises. The team will conduct six more after App State’s spring break next week, concluding on March 29.