San Jose, Calif.-----Quarterbacks Adam Tafralis and Sean Flynn each threw a pair of touchdowns passes leading the Offense to a 27-25 win over the Defense in the annual San Jose State University Spring Football Game held in Spartan Stadium to climax the “Spartan Sports Spectacular.”
“We got out without anybody getting hurt. That’s a big thing when you scrimmage as much. We had about 70-80 plays on offense/defense. I think there was a lot of hard hitting out there. When we look at the film, we’ll find there are some guys who really emerged and showed themselves in a positive light,” said San Jose State coach Dick Tomey. “I know the competition was good. The Offense won. We got a lot of things done in the kicking game.
INTO THE END ZONE
Tafralis, a junior, completed touchdown passes of 3 and 5 yards, respectively, to wide receivers Chester Coleman and James Jones. Flynn, a transfer from Los Angeles Harbor College, connected with tailback Jacob French and wide receiver Bernie Lewis on scoring plays of 10 and 2 yards. Lewis, a fifth-year senior, was the game’s leading receiver with four receptions for 29 yards. French, a transfer from Foothill College, led all rushers with 27 yards on six carries.
“We showed some maturity in different areas. We’re excelling in areas that we didn’t excel in last year. We have some guys who stepped in and are really picking up the slack from some of the guys we lost,” said Tafralis. “We have ‘playmakers.’ It’s up to guys in my position to get the ball to them.”
BIG PLAYS BY THE DEFENSE
Though the Offense led 14-9 at halftime, the Defense took the lead twice in the second half. Christopher Vedder, a starting cornerback in 2005 who now is at safety, intercepted a Tafralis pass giving the Defense a 16-14 lead. After Flynn and Lewis connected to put the Offense ahead 21-17, defensive tackle Freddy McCutcheon blocked a Jared Strubeck field goal try for the Defense’s last lead of 24-21.
“It was really competitive. Everyone was flying around the field. The defense made plays, interceptions, blocked punts, blocked a field goal and took it to the house. That’s how it should be,” said linebacker Matt Castelo, the top returning tackler in the Western Athletic Conference who had one of the defense’s four quarterback sacks. “We had some plays, but we need to make a lot more. especially on defense so we can get better.”
The Tafralis-to-Jones touchdown play proved to be the game-winner in front of an estimated crowd of 1,500.
TOMEY'S SUMMARY
“It was a good day given the fact that we’re not at the end of spring practice. We’ll have four days left. This will give us a good idea what to work on the next four days. It (The Spring Game) exposes you in certain areas that you have to clean up," added the San Jose State coach.
“We wanted to get everybody into the scrimmage. We wanted everyone who has worked hard. We’ll see what the evaluation is once we’ve looked at the tape. Everyone needs to have a nice Easter and we’ll get back at it next week.”
The Spartans return to the field for their 12th of 15 practice opportunities, Wednesday, April 19.
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