Bulldog Offense Grinds Out First Scrimmage Of Spring
Rising sophomore tailback Anthony Dixon worked with the first-team Bulldog offense and finished with 143 yards rushing and a pair of touchdowns on 18 attempts, but tailback Christian Ducre moved the second unit down the field for State's first score of the day. Ducre rushed eight times for 46 yards to set up a Josh Riddell 13-yard strike to Jamayel Smith to open the scoring.
After a couple of stalled drives, the first offense finally reached the end zone on an 80-yard drive spurred by a pair of long Michael Henig passes. Henig connected with Tony Burks for 19 yards on a third-and-long and hit Brandon McRae for a 31-yard strike to move the Bulldogs into scoring territory. Henig then found tight end Dezmond Sherrod for a 5-yard score.
McRae made some plays, just like I thought he would, Croom said. And I thought our tight ends did some good things.
With the passing game on track, the offense moved back to the ground game as Dixon busted a 67-yard touchdown run and the attack troops followed with a 12-play, 80-yard march ending with another Dixon score.
Dixon ran the ball well, Croom said. That was a strong point for us today. He's practiced well and he looked good today.
After Dixon's final touchdown, Riddell led the second-team offense down the field on two of three drives, scoring on the scrimmage's final play when Ducre dove across the goal from five yards out. For the day, Ducre totaled 171 rushing yards and two scores on 24 carries.
Despite the yardage amassed by his offense, head football coach Sylvester Croom continued to like the work of his relatively young defense.
We started out slow offensively and our defense came out and did some things well, Croom said.
The MState defensive troops were able to keep pressure on the passing game, pulling down eight sacks and recording seven pass breakups.
I liked the way we hit on defense, particularly our secondary the head coach said. Glanton had some nice hits. Pegues came up and hit well. Titus (Brown) rushed the passer extremely well.
The Bulldogs will have a week off for the university's spring break before returning to the practice fields on Monday, March 19.
SCORING
Smith 13 pass from Riddell
Sherrod 5 pass from Henig
Ducre 5 rush
Dixon 67 rush
Dixon 7 rush
Ducre 5 rush
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
RUSHING ?€“ Ducre 24-171 2TD, Dixon 18-143 2TD, Williams 11-62, Stallworth 10-46, Bell 1-9, Riddell 1-(-8), Harrington 1-(-10), Henig 7-(-55).
PASSING ?€“ Henig 17-35-0 203 TD, Ridell 8-14-0 97 TD, Harrington 1-4-0 20.
RECEIVING ?€“ Husband 2-60, McRae 4-59, Smith 4-51 TD, Burks 3-35, Dixon 2-26, Long 2-27, Shelton 1-20, Henderson 2-17, Ducre 2-17, Sherrod 1-5 TD, Stallworth 3-3.
TACKLES ?€“ Hughes 11, Bailey 8, Glanton 8, O'Neal 7, Johnson 7, Douglas 6, Stowe 6, Brown 5, Feld 5, Hannibal 4, Bobo 4, Washington 4, Bowser 4, Bowman 3, McRaney 3, Humphries 3, Burns 3, Wesley 3, Herrera 3, Summers 2, Love 2, Thornton 2, Pegues 2, Jar. Williams 2, Kyles 2, Prince 1, Cooper 1, Odom 1.
INTERCEPTIONS ?€“ None.
SACKS ?€“ Brown 2.5-20, O'Neal 2.5-20, Johnson 1-11, McRaney 1-10, Hannibal 1-8, Prince 1-8.
TACKLES FOR LOSS ?€“ Brown 3.5-24, O'Neal 3.5-21, Johnson 1-11, McRaney 1-10, Hannibal 1-8, Prince 1-8, Feld 1-3.
PASS BREAKUPS ?€“ Johnson 2, Brown 1, Wesley 1, Bowser 1, Pegues 1, Washington 1.
TOTAL OFFENSE ?€“ 126 plays, 632 yards. (5.01 yd avg.)