Scrimmage Notes

The team ran a "situational scrimmage" on Sunday, practicing various 4th quarter scenarios. The first and second units were mixed on both sides of the ball.

Scenario 1: Rettig's team ahead by 7, 3:53 remaining at own-35 with 2 TO

Chase Rettig did what he needed to and accomplished the objective of the scenario by running out the clock on Bordner's team. The junior QB got the chains moving early after a completion to CJ Parsons on 2nd down. It wasn't perfect execution, as Parsons let himself get knocked out of bounds on the play, which obviously isn't an objective when you're trying to run out the clock.

Two plays later, it looked like Rettig had another sure completion to move the sticks, but Spiffy Evans dropped a pass. Rettig wasn't discouraged by the drop and went right back to Evans on 3rd-and-5 for a 9 yard gain to keep the drive alive.

The defense picked it up and took over at that point. Dillon Quinn tackled Mike Javorski for a loss on 1st down. On 2nd down, Mehdi Abdesmad blew up CJ Parsons on the line of scrimmage and took down Javorski for a 4 yard loss. Quinn made another tackle on 3rd down, which forced Rettig and the offense to punt.

Punter Gerald Levano stole the show from there, laying down a 37 yard punt at the 2-yard line.

The odds were against Josh Bordner at that point as he took over at the 2 yard line with 15 seconds left, down 7. Bordner was immediately picked off by freshman Justin Simmons who went up and caught a long pass that Bordner was forced to try.

Scenario 2: Rettig's team down by 7, 3:17 remaining at own-35 with 2 TO

Rettig was oh so close to leading a tying drive in the next scenario. Rettig started off on fire, hitting Javorski on a screen for an 11 yard gain which picked up a first down. Then, Rettig found Alex Amidon over the middle for a 9 yard gain, after 2 incompletions which brought up a 4th-and-1. Down 7, the offense needed to go for it, and Rettig delivered. The BC offense went aggressive and ran a play action pass with Rettig finding fullback Jake Sinkovec 5 yards down-the-field. The fullback bounced off of three defenders and grabbed and extra 7 yards after the catch.

Rettig drove the offense all the way down to the 20-yard line. On 2nd-and-10, Spiffy Evans ran a post pattern to the right corner of the end zone. Rettig saw him but under threw the pass and it was picked off by Manny Asprilla.

Bordner's team got the ball with 1:29 left, but ran three straight running plays, and couldn't get much going. Rettig's defense had 2 timeouts so they were able to force Bordner's team to punt. That's when Levano came up huge again and absolutely buried a 63 yard punt. The result was Rettig got the ball back at his own 22 with 19 seconds left and was picked off by Nick Clancy on the first play. The pass was tipped by Abdesmad.

Scenario 3: Game Tied, 3:36 remaining, Bordner at own-15 with 2 TO

The third scenario was probably the most lackluster of the scrimmage. Bordner's team was forced to punt after two short gains by Ted Davenport, and a 6 yard completion to Jarrett Darmstatter. In what was a trend for the scrimmage, Levano drilled a 47 yard punt with huge hang time, giving Rettig the ball at his own 29 with 1:37 left.

Rettig completed consecutive passes to Javorski and Amidon to get the team rolling. On the next play, Rettig missed Amidon 30 yards down the field on what might have been a 60+ yard touchdown. Amidon had beaten Asprilla by about 3 steps on the play but Rettig simply misfired. Facing a 3rd-and-10, Rettig hit Evans two yards in front of the sticks. Linebacker Steele Divitto immediately made the tackle to bring up a 4th-and-2. Rettig and the offense lined up to go for it, which was surprising, considering the scenario had them in a tie game with 30 seconds left and the ball at the 48 yard line. Rettig caught the snap and launched a quick kick that bounced into the end zone.

Bordner got the ball at his own-20 with 20 seconds left. On 1st down, Bordner connected with freshman Harrison Jackson for a 20 yard gain. Jackson showed veteran instincts by getting out of bounds after catching the pass. The offense had time for one play, and Bordner launched a Hail Mary which was intercepted by Simmons, his second of the day.

Scenario 4: Bordner's team ahead by 11, 4:01 remaining at own-21 with 3 TO

Bordner's team ran three straight running plays, and Davenport was unable to gain much ground against a defense that was expecting run all the way.

Rettig's team got the ball back at the 38-yard line with 2:27 left, and the quarterback put together his best drive of the scrimmage. Rettig hit Amidon for a 13 yard gain, and then hit Dan Crimmins for a 9 yard gain. Two plays later, Rettig found Brian Miller over the middle 10 yards down the field. Miller quickly kicked it into high speed and was able to get away from the defense out of bounds. It was a nice burst by Miller and it was a speed I haven't seen him kick into before. Two plays later, Rettig found Amidon for a 29 yard touchdown. The most impressive part of the touchdown might have been a pre-snap diagnosis from right tackle John Wetzel. With the play clocking winding down, Wetzel spotted KPL inching up ready to blitz on the play. Wetzel called out the blitzer, and seconds later the ball was snapped with the offensive line accounting for the blitz and giving Rettig perfect pass protection.

Bordner's team got the ball back and was able to run out the clock on the defense.

Scenario 5: Game tied, 4:01 remaining, Bordner's team at own-21 with 3 TO

Bordner's team was the winner in this scenario. Right off the bat, the defense picked up a personal foul penalty which gave Bordner's offense a jump start. Bordner found Jackson for a 15 yard gain, and Donte Elliot for a 13 yard gain. After a pair of back-to-back 4 yard gains by Javorski, Nate Freese hit a 40 yard field goal.

Down 3, Rettig's team got the ball back with 1:35 remaining, but did little more than a 15 yard completion to Amidon.

Other Notes

-Andre Williams did not participate in the scrimmage. Spaziani chalked it up to not wanting Williams to get banged up.

"He's the last man standing. We have a couple of running backs hurt. Andre has been practicing well we are being careful, said Spaziani.

-Much better performance from the offensive line in this scrimmage. There were no sacks allowed and there was better penetration from them on running plays.

-Freshmen Justin Simmons and Harrison Jackson were probably the two most impressive first year performers in the scrimmage. Also, freshman Tim Joy made 2 tackles and diagnosed the running plays well on each occasions. I'm not sure there's room in the rotation for Joy to play this year but he looks like he has a chance in the future.