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Saturday, April 12, 2003
Plenty of offense and defensive big plays in the red zone highlight FIU Blue/Gold Football Scrimmage
ans at Saturday's
FIU Football Blue/Gold Scrimmage at FIU Stadium were treated
to an extended exhibition of the young Golden Panthers team.
Coming in, head coach Don Strock said the scrimmage would last around 64 plays. But before it was over, and the defense had come away with an 18-16 victory, Strock let his troops go for more than 90 plays that included three field goals, one for 53 yards, and more than 400 yards of offense.
It was the second scrimmage win in as many weeks for the defense, yet it could have gone in the offense's favor Saturday, if not for penalties, fumbles and big defensive plays in the red zone.
Sophomore quarterback David Tabor (Kissimmee, Fla.) started with the first unit and went on to complete four-of-six passes in the first half. He hit on a seventh pass, an apparent 18-yard touchdown to wide receiver Julius Eppinger (Miami/Miami H.S.), but an offensive pass interference penalty nullified the score.
Two plays later, kicker Adam Moss (Coral Springs, Fla./American Heritage) put the offense on the scoreboard with a 53-yard field goal.
Later in the first half, redshirt freshman Josh Padrick (Merritt Island, Fla.) directed a 16-play drive and had the offense a first-and-goal at the two-yard line. But two straight sacks, by Demeritt Rucker (Hollywood, Fla./Chaminade Prep) and then Christopher Horne (Miami/Carol City) stopped the drive.
The offense closed to within 9-6 at the halftime break on a Moss field goal of 33 yards.
Padrick started the second half and again moved the offense into the red zone, but a fumble on a first-and-goal at the three-yard line gave three more points to the defense.
Led by defensive back John Haritan's (Casselberry, Fla.) nine tackles and linebackers Cornelius Collier (Miami/Palmetto) and Rucker's eight stops apiece, the defense built its lead to 18-6, before each of the two quarterbacks engineered scoring drives.
Padrick led the offense on a 13-play drive that included a 24-yard run by Aston Wilson (Casselberry, Fla.) and a quarterback scramble for 17 yards. But Moss had to bail out the offense with a 43-yard field goal after a holding penalty at the 14-yard line, then three straight incomplete passes stalled the drive.
Tabor took over on the last drive of the scrimmage, completing three consecutive pass attempts to the defense's 28-yard line, then riding the back of O.J. Price (Pembroke Pines, Fla./Flanagan), the senior got the call for the next three runs, the last of which went six yards for a touchdown.
Price led all rushers with 61 yards while Tori Robinson (Miami/Southridge) had his second straight promising performance of the spring with 52 yards on 10 carries, after an injury-plagued fall campaign.
"We didn't get it into the end zone as much as we would have liked but we tried some different plays down at the goal line that we wanted to get a good look at on film," said Strock. "Our kicking game was much better than it was last week and the punting was better. Overall, it was a good effort. Everybody got a chance to get in and play a lot."
Padrick completed 17-of-28 passes on the day for 161 yards while Tabor was successful 11-of-17 attempts for 74 yards. Their favorite targets were wide receivers Harold Leath (Tampa, Fla.) who caught four balls for 52 yards and Eppinger with three catches for 46 yards.
The tight ends also got into the act with Edwin Pierre (Miami/North Miami) and Dannon Monroe (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla./Plantation) reeling in four and three passes respectively.
Saturday's scrimmage concluded FIU's 15 days of spring practice. FIU opens its 2003 season on Saturday, Sept. 6 against the Indiana State Sycamores in Terre Haute, Ind. The Golden Panthers home schedule begins Saturday, Sept. 20 against the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats at FIU Stadium. For information on FIU Football tickets, call (866) FIU-GAME.
2003 Florida International University Spring Football Blue/Gold Scrimmage Saturday, April 12, 2003 FIU Stadium, Miami, Fla. DEFENSE 18, OFFENSE 16 TEAM STATISTICS: RUSHING: 44 carries, 184 yards, 4.2 avg. PASSING: 28-45, 235 yards, 0 INT TOTAL: 89 plays, 419 yards, 4.7 yards per play INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS: Passing C-A Pct. YDS Long TD Int Josh Padrick 17-28 .607 161 22 0 0 David Tabor 11-17 .647 74 20 0 0 Totals: 28-45 .622 235 22 0 0 Rushing ATT YDS AVG. TD Long O.J. Price 10 61 6.1 1 14 Tori Robinson 10 52 5.2 0 11 Rashod Smith 9 36 4.0 0 12 Rod Baldwin 7 26 3.7 0 10 Aston Wilson 1 24 24.0 0 24 Adam Radno 1 2 2.0 0 2 Josh Padrick 5 -8 -1.6 0 17 David Tabor 1 -9 -9.0 0 -9 Totals: 44 184 4.2 1 24 Receiving REC YDS AVG. TD Long Harold Leath 4 52 13.0 0 20 Julius Eppinger 3 46 15.3 0 17 Dannon Monroe 3 35 11.6 0 16 Edwin Pierre 4 32 8.0 0 11 Dan Landrau 2 29 14.5 0 22 Rashod Smith 4 23 5.8 0 12 Cory McKinney 1 7 7.0 0 7 Ernesto Guevara 1 3 3.0 0 3 Adam Radno 1 -1 -1.0 0 -1 Tory Robinson 3 -5 -1.6 0 1 Totals: 28 235 8.4 0 22 Scrimmage Defensive Statistics from April 12, 2003 Player Tackles Sacks INT FUM REC John Haritan 9 0 0 0 Cornelius Collier 8 0 0 0 Demeritt Rucker 8 1 0 0 Gerrod Bodie 7 0 0 0 Kris Thomas 6 0 0 0 Matthew Bass 5 0 0 0 Shaun Dudney 5 0 0 0 Derrick Kulian 5 0 0 0 Randy Arnold 4 0 0 0 Everett Baker 4 0 0 0 Nick Carreno 4 0 0 0 Payton Williams 4 1 0 0 Josh Alexander 3 0 0 0 James Black 3 0 0 0 Lavarus McCloud 3 0 0 0 Lance Preston 3 0 0 0 Ronny Silva 3 0 0 0 Matt Castillo 2 0 0 0 Pedro Farias 2 0 0 0 Chris Horne 2 1 0 0 Gentry Jackson 2 0 0 0 Clint Janus-Smith 2 0 0 1 John Kelly 2 0 0 0 Kyle Salas 2 1 0 0 Johnathan Sturrup 2 0 0 0 Nick Turnbull 2 0 0 0 David Vaughns 2 0 0 0 Greg Moss 1 0 0 0 T.J. Singletary 1 0 0 0 Terrence Allen 1 0 0 0 Dane Ireson 1 0 0 0 Terran Bell 1 0 0 0 Totals: 109 4 0 1 Punts: Doug Jones, 3-115 yards (38.3 yard avg.) Long: 46 yds. PAT: Adam Moss, 1-1. Field Goals Attempted: Adam Moss, 53 yards--Good Adam Moss, 30 yards--Missed Adam Moss, 33 yards--Good Adam Moss, 43 yards--Good
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