Blue, Silver Tie in Annual Spring Game
4/26/2003 12:00:00 AM | Football
April 26, 2003
The Air Force football team completed spring drills with a 14-14 tie in the annual Blue-Silver game Saturday morning in Falcon Stadium.
Sophomore backup quarterback Adam Fitch led the Silver team on an 80-yard drive in the final minutes of play and completed a two-point conversion pass to tie the game with 52 seconds remaining. Fullback Thomas Crockett capped the drive with a three-yard touchdown run. Fitch's pass hit tight end Adam Strecker, who was wide open in the back of the end zone.
The Blue team opened the scoring with a Travis Thurmond 25 yard pass to Alec Messerall with 5:45 remaining in the first quarter. The Silver team answered on its second drive of the game when Taylor Brown hit a 45-yard field goal to make it 7-3. Starting quarterback Chance Harridge engineered the drive for the Silver, and then took the remainder of the day off.
Starting kicker Joey Ashcroft pulled the Silver to within a point with a 26-yard field goal early in the second quarter before Matt Ward caught a 26-yard scoring strike from Zach Myhra to give the Blue a 14-6 halftime lead.
The only score of the second half was on the Silver's final drive. The Blue team ran out the clock on its next possession and head coach Fisher DeBerry decided the end the game with the tie.
"Both teams felt pretty good about themselves today and that's positive," the coach said. "We've really knocked each other around this spring and so it was good for them to see a game-situation today. We couldn't have scripted what happened any better. We came into the spring wanting to improve our passing, so I'm happy to see that we threw two touchdown passes. I also was very impressed with the way the Silver team took the ball 80 yards on that final drive."
The statistics were very similar for both teams. The Silver team had 197 total yards while the Blue had 180 yards. Both teams had 11 total first downs, including seven by rushing. Blue fullback Robert Hutsell was the game's leading rusher with 33 yards on nine carries. Myhra added 19 yards and Ward 13. Backup halfback Billy Sullivan and Fitch led the Silver team with 27 yards rushing each. Fitch also hit five of 10 passes for 67 yards. Harridge hit two of four passes for 16 yards. Thurmond led the Blue, hitting five of 12 passes for 68 yards. Myhra was one of two for 26 yards.
Defensively, Felix Cole's game-high eight tackles led the Silver. He also had two tackles for loss for five yards. Trevor Hightower and Ryan Carter each added seven tackles. John Rudzinski chipped in with four tackles, including 1.5 for loss for six yards. Adrian Wright led the Blue team with six tackles, including one for a loss. Larry Duncan chipped in with five tackles.
DeBerry spoke of his concerns about finding a punter for next season and the punting was tremendous during the game. Andrew Martin punted four times for the Silver team for a 49.0 average and had two punts of 60 yards or longer. Don Heaton had three punts for the Blue for a 53.0 average. Robert Barkers chipped in with three punts for a 47.0 norm.
Finding a backup quarterback for Harridge was also a concern and one that will linger into the fall, according to DeBerry. "Each of these guys played well at times this spring and in today's game, but nobody separated themselves. We'll have to make our decision on a backup in the first two weeks of fall drills."
Air Force returns 17 starters next season, which is the most in DeBerry's 20 seasons as head coach. While optimism is high for the Falcons, DeBerry is quick to point out the basics. "Having so many returning players is great, and I think we can be a competitive football team if we're a hungry football team. Spring drills are about working on your fundamentals and I think we did a good job of that. If you're not a good blocking and tackling football team you are not going to whip anybody."
