San Marcos, Texas – Joplo Bartu and Jason McLean led a strong defensive effort and Tim Hawkins accounted for 133 yards of total offense to lead the Gold team to a 16-9 victory over the Maroon team in Texas State's spring game on Saturday afternoon at Bobcat Stadium.
Bartu and McLean both recorded a game-high seven tackles for the Gold squad. In addition, Bartu recorded a quarterback sack, and three tackles for losses, while McLean also was credited with breaking up a pass as the Gold team held the Maroon team to just 52 yards on 27 carries.
“I thought both teams accomplished what we set out to do today,” said head coach Dennis Franchione. “Neither team turned the ball over too much, and the first goal of quarterbacking is to hang onto the ball. The backs took care of the ball, and the defense was in the right spot most of the day.”
On offense, Hawkins rushed for a game-high of 65 yards on 13 carries and completed three of his 11 passes for another 68 yards. Two runs by Hawkins set up touchdowns for the Gold team.
The first came in the first quarter after David Lewis gained 24 yards on a faked punt down to the Maroon's 18-yard line. On the next play, Hawkins gained 14 yards to set up a four-yard touchdown run by Dexter Imade. Zac Ammar''s extra point attempt was blocked by Prestin Brown.
The Maroon team scored their first points in the second quarter when Taylor Matlock kicked a line-drive field goal from 33 yards to make the score 6-3.
With 26 seconds left to play in the first half, Hawkins completed a 59-yard pass to Craig Alexander to set up a 26-yard field goal by Ammar on the final play in the opening half to give the Gold a 9-3 lead at halftime.
The Maroon team tied the score with 6:51 left in the game when junior college transfer Shaun Rutherford scored a touchdown on a nine-yard run on a quarterback sneak up the middle. Matlock's extra point attempt was blocked by Jamie Clavell-Head.
Rutherford finished the game completing 11 of his 24 passes for 115 yards.
With the score tied at 9-9, Hawkins drove the Gold team 63 yards down the field in eight plays for the winning score. He ran for 40 yards during the drive, including a six-yard carry down to the one. That set up a one-yard plunge up the middle by Marcus Curry for the touchdown. Ammar kicked the extra point to give the Gold team the victory.
The game concluded Texas State's first spring practice in Franchione's return to Texas State. He served as the head coach for the Bobcats in 1990-91 before coaching at New Mexico, TCU, Alabama and Texas A&M.
The Bobcats kick off the 2011 season at Texas Tech on September 3.
Final Statistics
Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 Score
Gold Team 6 3 0 7 16
Maroon Team 0 3 0 6 9
Scoring Summary:
1st 00:02 GOLD Imade, Dexter 4 yd run (Ammar, Zac kick blockd), 6-46 2:03, GOLD 6 - MAR 0
2nd 07:17 MAR Matlock, Taylor 33 yd field goal, 7-17 2:43, GOLD 6 - MAR 3
00:00 GOLD Ammar, Zac 26 yd field goal, 4-59 0:26, GOLD 9 - MAR 3
4th 06:51 MAR Rutherford, Shaun 9 yd run (Matlock, Taylor kick blockd), 13-60 7:33, GOLD 9 - MAR 9
01:58 GOLD Curry, Marcus 1 yd run (Ammar, Zac kick), 8-63 4:49, GOLD 16 - MAR 9
GOLD MAR
FIRST DOWNS 9 10
RUSHES-YARDS (NET) 30-118 27-52
PASSING YDS (NET) 68 115
Passes Att-Comp-Int 11-3-1 27-11-0
TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS 41-186 54-167
Fumble Returns-Yards 0-0 0-0
Punt Returns-Yards 2-11 0-0
Kickoff Returns-Yards 2-56 3-87
Interception Returns-Yards 0-0 1-0
Punts (Number-Avg) 4-42.2 6-29.0
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 0-0
Penalties-Yards 3-24 4-19
Possession Time 15:41 24:19
Third-Down Conversions 1 of 7 5 of 15
Fourth-Down Conversions 1 of 2 2 of 3
Red-Zone Scores-Chances 3-3 2-2
Sacks By: Number-Yards 2-8 1-10
RUSHING: Gold Team-Hawkins, Tim 13-65; Curry, Marcus 8-26; Lewis, David 1-24;
Imade, Dexter 6-8; TEAM 2-minus 5. Maroon Team-Reddic, Frank 11-41; Rutherford,
Shaun 7-17; Blackburn, Brett 2-2; Franks, Terrence 6-minus 1; Arndt, Tyler
1-minus 7.
PASSING: Gold Team-Hawkins, Tim 3-11-1-68. Maroon Team-Rutherford, Shaun
11-24-0-115; Arndt, Tyler 0-3-0-0.
RECEIVING: Gold Team-Alexander, Cedric 1-59; Scott, Corey 1-7; Imade, Dexter
1-2. Maroon Team-Amerson, Ed 7-56; Dillard, Daren 1-25; Porterie, Jonathan 1-23;
Reddic, Frank 1-8; Miller, Bradley 1-3.
INTERCEPTIONS: Gold Team-None. Maroon Team-Mager, Craig 1-0.
FUMBLES: Gold Team-None. Maroon Team-None.
Stadium: Bobcat Stadium Attendance: Not Available
Kickoff time: 12:00 pm End of Game: 2:15 pm Total elapsed time: - 2:15
Temperature: 85 Wind: E 8 mph Weather: Sunny
Gold Team vs Maroon Team (Apr 15, 2011 at San Marcos, Texas)
SACKS (UA-A): Gold Team-Bartu, Joplo 1-0; Norfleet, Jordan 1-0. Maroon
Team-Holmes, Charles 1-0.
TACKLES (UA-A): Gold Team-Bartu, Joplo 6-1; McLean, Jason 5-2; Ward, Jonathan
3-2; Morris, Darryl 2-2; Norfleet, Jorda 1-2; Haywood, Jarrett 1-2; Robinson,
Tronte 0-3; Clermond, Jeff 2-0; Alvarez, Francisco 1-1; Wiggins, Mario 1-1;
Harris, Matt 0-2; Chambers, Michael 1-0; Asemota, Lee 1-0; Ammar, Zac 1-0;
Lewis, David 1-0; Scott, Corey 1-0; 40 1-0; George, David 0-1; Benning, Phillip
0-1; McDonald, Barrion 0-1; Johnson, Bryon 0-1; Clavell-Head, Jamie 0-1; Luna,
Tomas 0-1. Maroon Team-Holmes, Charles 2-3; Lilly, Brian 4-0; Johnson, Tevron
2-1; Iwuji, Bryan 2-1; McColloch, Blake 2-1; Iwuji, Justin 2-0; 9 2-0; Mager,
Craig 2-0; Stewart, Jarrad 1-1; Dickey, Jeremy 1-0; Jackson, Ron 1-0; 32 1-0;
Ward, Darius 1-0; Piriano, Joe 1-0; Grant, Damon 1-0; Brown, Prestin 0-1;
Coffey, Chandler 0-1; 47 0-1.
