Defense Shines In Football Scrimmage
April 20, 2000
CORVALLIS, Ore. --It was the defensive unit dominating most of the play Thursday at Reser Stadium as Oregon State held its third scrimmage of the spring.
The Beavers' defensive unit scored first in the scrimmage as redshirt freshman middle linebacker Richard Seigler raced 53 yards on a fumble recovery to score a TD as Robert Prescott was knocked loose of the football after a reception from Jonathan Smith. A two-point conversion gave the defense a 8-0 lead.
All told, the OSU defensive unit recorded eight sacks on the day, two tackles for loss, blocked a punt, intercepted a pass and broke up three passes. The defense held the offense to a net of 82 rushing yards on 42 carries and to 181 yards passing as four Beaver quarterbacks combined to complete 21 of 43 passes for two touchdowns.
The offense was not without its moments, however.
Smith drove the No. 1 offense (playing against No. 1 defense) 70 yards for a touchdown on the second possession of the scrimmage. It took the offense six plays to travel the 70 yards with Smith connecting with Ken Simonton for a 35-yard TD pass.
Shayne House, who moved up the depth chart to No. 2 at quarterback Thursday, had an outstanding day throwing the football. House was 7 of 11 for 70 yards and one touchdown and was intercepted one time. He completed 6 of his first 7 passes, including a 17-yard TD pass to Shawn Kintner to cap a 46-yard scoring drive in 6 plays.
Kicker Ryan Cesca completed the offensive scoring for the day with a 47-yard field goal boot.
Smith was productive, completing 6 of 13 passes for 82 yards and a touchdown against the No. 1 defense. Smith has not been intercepted in a scrimmage this spring.
Simonton rushed for 51 yards on 16 carries and caught 3 passes for 41 yards and a touchdown. Antonio Battle had 70 yards rushing on 12 carries.
"I think we are playing extremely well on defense right now, especially our first group," said Coach Dennis Erickson. "We have a lot of defensive players coming back, we need to keep improving in the middle, but we are doing some awfully good things on defense at the present time. Offensive, we must continue to improve."
Erickson was happy with the play of redshirt freshman Richard Seigler at middle linebacker. "He was a great feel for the game," said Erickson. "He can really run and he has great instinct."
Oregon State will complete spring drills next week with the final intrasquad scrimmage at 1 p.m. on Saturday, April 29 at Reser Stadium.
SCORING SUMMARY:
DEF--Richard Seigler 53 fumbe return (Bennie Johnson pass from Seth Trimmer)
OFF--Ken Simonton 35 pass from Jonathan Smith (Ryan Cesca kick)
OFF--Shawn Kintner 17 pass from Shayne House (Mike White kick)
OFF--Cesca 47 FG
STATISTICS
Rushing: (Carries-Yards-TD) Ken Simonton, 16-51-0, Antonio Battle, 12-70-0, Hashim Hall, 12-4-0, David Swopes, 1-2-0, Shayne House, 2-(-9)-0, Tyler Thomas, 3- (-11), Nick Stremick, 1-(1-5)-0, Jonathan Smith, 6- (-26)-0. Team 42-82-0
Passing: (PA-PC-PI-NYP-TD) Jonathan Smith, 13-6-0-82-1, Shayne House, 11-7-1-70-1, Nick Stremick, 9-3-0-19-0, Tyler Thomas, 10-5-0-10-0. Team 43-21-1-181-2.
Receiving: James Newson, 3-14, Junior Adams, 1-9, Monjero Jones, 4-47, Shawn Kintner, 1-17, Robert Prescott, 4-27, Ken Simonton, 3-41, Hashim Hall, 1- (-5), Martin Maurer, 1-13, Seth Trimmer, 1-10, Antonio Battle, 1-(-4), Mark Walsh, 1-10.
