Sycamores conclude spring practice with Blue/White game

TERRE HAUTE, IN (4-22-2006) – The Indiana State football team completed spring practice with the annual Blue/White game on Saturday (April 22). The intra-squad scrimmage saw the second-team come away with a 20-15 victory over the first team at Memorial Stadium.

Junior quarterback Reilly Murphy (San Diego, Calif./Grossmont JC) led the second team offense to a score on the opening possession of the game. On the second play from scrimmage, junior Bryan McCulley (Indianpolis, Ind./Pike HS) carried the ball over the right side for a 50-yard gain to the 10-yard line where he was pushed out of bounds by Elliott Thomas (Laplace, La./East St. John HS). McCulley ran it in on the ensuing play for the score and Nick Urankar’s (North Judson, Ind.) PAT gave the second team a 7-0 lead.

The first team offense sputtered on its first two possessions before moving the ball into the defense’s territory on its third possession. Junior quarterback Ben Schmidt (Jasper, Ind.) hit Sam Logan (Kentland, Ind./South Newton HS) over the middle to move the ball to the 41-yard line. Schmidt then found Carl Berman (Treasure Island, Fla./Boca Ciega HS) at the 25-yard line to give the first team offense a first down in scoring position. With a first and ten from the 25-yard line, Schmidt completed a pass to Logan who was stripped by Scott Cassesll (Terre Haute, Ind./West Vigo HS), thwarting the scoring chance.

The second team offense wasted little time, scoring on the second play from scrimmage with a 73-yard strike from Murphy to J.R. Kirkendoll (Roundrock, Texas). Urankar’s PAT gave the second team a 14-0 advantage. Later in the half the second team offense was threatening to add to the lead before Murphy was intercepted at the 22-yard line by Thomas.

The first team offense got on the board on its second possession of the second half. After taking over at its own 38-yard line, Schmidt found Berman down the middle for a 62-yard touchdown. The point after attempt by Kyle Hooper (Fort Myers, Fla./Bishop Verot HS) made the score 14-7 in favor of the second team.

Murphy then engineered a 13-play scoring drive which covered 80 yards. He scored the touchdown on a quarterback keeper, running over the right side to hit paydirt. The point after attempt was blocked and returned for two-points by Kyle James (Pickerington, Ohio), making the score 20-9 in favor of the second team.

On the ensuing possession, Schmidt guided the first team offense down the field for an 80-yard scoring drive. He connected on four of five pass attempts on the drive, which was capped off by a one-yard run from Robert Barcliff (Wytheville, Va./Hargrave Military). Schmidt’s pass to Logan on the two-point conversion fell incomplete.

Leading 20-15 the second team offense took possession of the ball midway through the fourth quarter and was able to run out the clock. Indiana State opens the 2006 campaign on September 2, when the Sycamores visit Purdue. ISU opens its home slate with a September 16 contest against Murray State. USA-365.com will again provide live Internet Radio coverage of all ISU college football games in the 2006 season.

Head Coach Lou West:

On the offense … “We cut the package down for the offense out there today, so the things they did were pretty basic, but for the most part they did pretty well.”

On the play of the quarterbacks … “Both guys have some things they have to get better at before the fall. Ben is a little ahead of Reilly right now. He has a little bit better control of the offense right now, but Reilly made up some ground and did a good job out there today. J.R. Kirkendoll was forced to play at wideout today due to some injuries at the position. He was also prepared to play running back if we got thin at that spot. J.R. is very versatile and is a guy we can move around if we have to.”

Overall assessment on today … “We still have a lot of work to do. The fundamentals have improved but we still have a ways to go as far as taking care of our own responsibilities. There were a few broken plays out there, particularly on defense, and its because guys are trying to do too much.”

On the wide receivers … “Any time you have a guy who can catch the ball and protect it after the reception like Sam (Logan), you want to try and get him the ball. Clearly Carl is a guy that brings us just that outright speed. We’ve got two good guys who will make our passing game better.”

On where the team is at the end of the spring session … “I think we have improved in fundamentals. What we’ll take away from this game is that if we play our responsibilities, we’ll be fine. If you don’t take care of your individual assignment, there will be a big play one way or another. That part is very important, because that’s what happened to us last season. One guy would try to do too much and it would turn into a big play. If we just take care of our individual responsibilities, good things will happen for us.”