Offense Takes Down the Defense in SU Spring Football Game

Story by Matt Dowell
Photos by Kayla Chadwick

Syracuse. N.Y. (Newhouse Sports Media Center)- As soon as the Syracuse men's football team took the field on Saturday for their Spring game, Coach Scott Shafer made sure the fans knew this season was going to be different. He got up, grabbed a microphone and told the 4,000 plus fans who'd come he wanted this team to be "our team" and said this season he wanted the Carrier Dome to "shake."

"I hope the fans had a good time," Shafer said after the game as spectators mingled with the players. "The best part of today is happening right now with the little ones meeting our kids. I think it's great when one of the little ones can go and get an autograph from one of their idols on the Syracuse football team."

From a football perspective, he also wants it to be different. While going 7-6 last season, including a victory at the Texas Bowl, he says he wants his offense to be more effective and his defense to be stronger in a season that will see them have rematches against ACC powerhouses Clemson and defending national champion Florida State.

"We didn't do a good enough job, last year, taking care of control of the penalties," he said. "That's been a focus."

The scoring for this game was unique. Due to some injuries on the offensive side, Shafer orchestrated the way points would be earned to have as close a game as possible.


Orange run onto the field to start the Spring game (c) Chadwick, 2014

For the offense, points would be awarded the traditional way-six points for a touchdown, three for a field goal, and one for the extra point after a touchdown.

For the defense, touchdowns were worth seven points, creating a turnover was worth six points, forcing a three-and-out would get three points, and any possession stop was worth one point. Adding a little intrigue to the mix, if the defense managed to score off an interception or a turnover, it got a total of 13 points.

"I think it's always easier when you can play a real game," Shafer said. "But, the scoring system worked out pretty good! 34-27, that's not bad!"

Things didn't start the way the team wanted, however. During the first offensive drive linebacker Marqez Hodge and offensive guard John Miller both went down hard. Each was taken off the field limping, but returned to play later in the game.

First-string quarterback Terrel Hunt managed to take his offense to first and goal on the same drive, but couldn't capitalize. The offense settled for a 27-yard field goal by Alex Hodgkinson to give the offense a 3-0 lead.

Hunt says he's been making adjustments to his game now that he is the starting quarterback for the team.

"Staying in the pocket, keeping my elbow up, taking command of the offense," he said.

On the second drive, Shafer tried out freshman quarterback AJ Long. But, it didn't look promising for the young gun at first as he and his offense went three-and-out on his first attempt, allowing the defense to tie the game at three.

Shafer kept Long in and he proved himself better this time as he made some big plays on third down, including connecting with Devante McFarlane, to get to the six-yard line. Long then connected with Ashton Broyld for a touchdown and after Hodgkinson converted the extra point the offense led 10-3.

Shafer says he is proud of Long for the growth he's making at such a young age.

"AJ should be getting his tux for prom right now!" he said. "And he played his spring game in Syracuse so that's good to see."

WR Kobena catches a pass to score a TD (c) Chadwick, 2014

The next two drives saw Hunt back on the field, but these drives ended quickly as the defense got two points for making defensive stops to make the lead for the offense 10-5.

Shafer then put in sophomore quarterback Mitch Kimble and Kimble made his first drive a big success. He completed a beautiful 29-yard run with George Morris II to get the offense within striking distance and then completed a 15-yard touchdown pass to Jeremiah Kobena to make it 16-5 in favor of the offense.

Hodgkinson's point after gave the offense a 17-5 lead at the half.

At halftime, Hunt was 12-of-15 for 95 yards, Long was 6-of-8 for 56 yards, and Kimble was 6-of-6 for 48 yards.

Shafer says he's looking forward to seeing how things shake out among the backup quarterbacks.

"Competition's what it's all about," he said. "We wanna bring that competition, especially with the two and three positions as you're trying to compete. It'll be interesting to see how that fight continues forward with the quarterback back up spot."

Before the second half began, kicking specialist Riley Dixon competed in the "Punting Challenge." In this challenge he represented the defense since it was trailing.

Dixon got four chances to punt from the 50-yard line and if it landed inside the 15 the defense would get one point, inside the 10 would be two points, and inside the five would be three points.

After getting nothing from the first punt, Dixon got it inside the five on the second, and inside the ten on the third and fourth to give the defense seven extra points. The score was now 17-12 for the offense.

Hunt sat out the second half as Shafer gave his backup quarterbacks a chance to show their skills.

Hunt says he has a new mindset when it comes to being a leader for the team.

"Before, Jerome (Smith) was in command and all the other guys, but, now, I gotta be the guy to say, 'Fix something when it's broke.'" he said.

Terrel Hunt looks to score for the offense (c) Chadwick, 2014

The defense started out on fire, causing three- and-outs on the first three offensive drives to give the defense a 21-17 lead.

The offense didn't give up though, as sophomore quarterback Austin Wilson connected with Jeremiah Kobena on the next drive for an 18-yard touchdown to make it 23-21 for the offense.

The extra point made it 24-21.

Wilson stayed on fire as on the next drive he completed a 54-yard touchdown with Broyld to give the offense a 31-21 lead.

The next offensive drive saw Mitch Kimble in as quarterback and, after getting down to the five-yard line for a first and goal, he didn't capitalize and the offense settled for a 28-yard field goal by Hodgkinson to extend the lead to 34-21.

On the second to last drive of the game, AJ Long threw an interception to safety Darius Kelly to earn six points for the defense to make the final score 34-27 in favor of the offense.

"It looked pretty good," Shafer said of the offense. "I didn't see a whole lot of mistakes, there weren't a lot of flags thrown. I thought it was a clean game."

Video Report

Shafer Post Game

Hunt Post Game