Game Ends Spring Practice
April 5, 2008
Steve Day
The “Visitors”, which featured players on the first-team defense and second-team offense, emerged as 14-2 winners against the home team which was the first-team offense and second-team defense.
Backup quarterbacks Cody Gragg and Brandon Cobb each threw for short touchdown passes and the first-team defense repeatedly closed the door on their offensive counterparts.
Fourth-year coach Ryan Held was pleased with the overall effort and said he saw some encouraging signs from a number of players during the 50-play scrimmage.
“We had some people step up and show just what they can do for our football team,” Held said. “This game allowed us to take a look at a number of players, and a lot of them made a good case for themselves.”
While Held stopped short of identifying individual standouts, he felt that it was a productive spring and certainly will give the team momentum heading into fall drills in August.
The Visitor’s first score came after Gragg connected on a 34-yard pass to Saumuel Burnett down to the Home 4. Gragg then found J.R. Hammon on a four-yard pass to put the Visitor’s up 7-0 with 29 seconds left in the second quarter
The Home team’s only score came on an errant snap during a third-quarter punt play in which the ball sailed out of the back of the endzone making it 7-2.
The Visitor’s put it away in the fourth as Cobb made a couple of impressive fourth-down conversions off draw plays. He then completed the drive with an 11-yard pass to Lane Ross to put the Visitor’s ahead for good at 14-2 with 4:33 to play.
SWOSU will open the season Thursday, Aug. 28 at longtime rival Northwestern Oklahoma State University in Alva.