April 8, 2006
SAN DIEGO - The defense limited the offense to just one touchdown and 175 yards of total offense at San Diego State's third scrimmage of spring drills Saturday afternoon at the Aztecs' on-campus practice facility. The scrimmage lasted just over an hour and encompassed 50 offensive plays.
"I thought our defense really played well today," SDSU head coach Chuck Long said. "We were looking for that, especially at the start. The first two scrimmages they didn't get off to great starts. That was something that was emphasized (in practice) this week and they got off to a great start today and maintained that momentum throughout the day."
The defense held the offense to just three plays on each of its first two possessions. The third drive saw the offense log its first two first downs of the day, getting to the 36-yard line to set up a 53-yard Garrett Palmer field goal attempt, which came up short to keep the game scoreless.
After another three and out, sophomore linebacker Russell Allen (Oceanside, Calif.) intercepted sophomore Darren Mougey's (Scottsdale, Ariz.) pass and returned it 84 yards for the first score by either side. The offense finally broke through on its eighth possession of the day, as junior running back Brandon Bornes' (Vista, Calif.) one-yard run capped a 13-play, 62-yard drive.
The defense finished the day by keeping the offense out of the end zone on four attempts starting from the defense's 25-yard line, ending with linebacker Andrew Schantz (Santa Clarita, Calif.) breaking-up Kevin Craft's (Valley Center, Calif.) pass attempt on fourth down.
SDSU's two senior safeties led the team in tackles with Reggie Grigsby (Oceanside, Calif.) logging a team-best eight stops and Brett Sturm (Littleton, Colo.) tallying seven. Three players also contributed four tackles apiece for the defense, which logged eight tackles for loss and five sacks.
Running backs Lynell Hamilton (Stockton, Calif.) and Atiyyah Henderson (Rockledge, Fla.) tied for team lead with 36 yards rushing apiece, while Mougey completed all but one of his seven passes for 43 yards. Four wideouts had two receptions apiece, including seniors Brain Spinks (Stockton, Calif.) and Ramal Porter (Van Nuys, Calif.), junior Alex Ghebreselassie (Chula Vista, Calif.) and redshirt freshman Tobias Shanks (Port Gibson, Miss.).
San Diego State begins the last week of spring drills Monday with the first of three weekday practices, followed by the Red & Black Game, scheduled for Saturday at 10 a.m. at Torrey Pines High School.
Scoring Drives
Russell Allen 84-yard interception return
Brandon Bornes 1-yard run (Palmer kick) - 13 plays, 62 yards
Offensive Stats
TEAM RUSHING TOTALS (carries-yards-touchdowns)
Lynell Hamilton 8-36-0, Atiyyah Henderson 9-36-0, Brandon Bornes 3-9-1, Kevin Craft 3-6-0, Mekell Wesley 1-3-0, Kevin O'Connell 1-(-4)-0, Darren Mougey 3-(-11)-0; TOTAS 28-75-1.
TEAM PASSING TOTALS (completions-attempts-interceptions yards touchdowns)
Darren Mougey 6-7-1 43 0, Kevin Craft 4-5-0 39 0, Kevin O'Connell 4-10-0 18; TOTALS 14-22-1 100 0.
TEAM RECEIVING TOTALS (number-yards-touchdowns)
Brian Spinks 2-30-0, Ramal Porter 2-22-0, Tobias Shanks 2-10-0, Alex Ghebreselassie 2-3-0, Roberto Wallace 1-11-0, Justin Shaw 1-9-0, Chazeray Schilens 1-7-0, Brett Swain 1-5-0, Lynell Hamilton 1-2-0, Steve Schmidt 1-1-0; TOTALS 14-100-0.
Defensive Stats
TACKLES (total-unassisted)
Reggie Grigsby 8-4, Brett Sturm 7-1, Luke Laologi 4-2, Aaron Moore 4-2, Joe Martin 4-1, Nick Osborn 3-2, Jonathan Soto 3-1, Russell Allen 3-0, Antwan Applewhite 2-2, Brett Martin 2-1, Terrell Maze 2-1, Frederick Amano 2-0, Jonathan Bailes 2-0, Marc Hull 2-0, Ornan Nwansi 2-0, Donny Baker 1-1, Kwincy Edwards 1-1, Michael Shields 1-1, Avery Williams 1-1, Tony DeMartinis 1-0, Siaosi Fifita 1-0, Jerry Milling 1-0, Trevor Parrington 1-0, Andrew Schantz 1-0; TOTALS 59-21.
QUARTERBACK SACKS (total-yards)
Jonathan Soto 1-5, Nick Osborn 1-4, Antwan Applewhite 1-1, Brett Sturm 0.5-3, Ornan Nwansi 0.5-2, Reggie Grigsby 0.5-1, Brett Martin 0.5-0; TOTALS 5-16.
TACKLES FOR LOSS (total-yards)
Jonathan Soto 2-6, Nick Osborn 2-4, Brett Sturm 1-3, Ornan Nwansi 1-2, Antwan Applewhite 1-1, Reggie Grigsby 1-1, Terrell Maze 1-1, Andrew Schantz 1-1, Brett Martin 1-0; TOTALS 11-19.
INTERCEPTIONS (total-yards)
Russell Allen 1-84; TOTAL 1-84
PASSES BROKEN UP
Donny Baker 2, Joe Martin 1, Andrew Schantz 1; TOTALS 4.
Kicking Statistics
FIELD GOALS (Made-Attempts)
Garrett Palmer 0-1 (53wr); TOTALS 0-1
PUNTING (Number-Average)
Michael Hughes 3-38.3, Garrett Palmer 2-30.5; TOTALS 5-35.2.
Miscellaneous
PENALTIES
Defense 2-7; TOTALS 2-7.