Deacons Close Preseason Camp With Final Scrimmage

8/23/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football

Aug. 23, 2006

Today's Practice: Full pads for third scrimmage at Groves Stadium

Weather: 77 degrees and clear

Scrimmage Notes: QB Benjamin Mauk engineered touchdown drives on each of his first three drives, one of which was a 98-yard march... RB Micah Andrews rushed for two touchdowns and FB Mike Rinfrette rushed for one... QB Riley Skinner ran for a score and later threw a touchdown pass to TE John Tereshinski... the first team defense forced a turnover on its first drive as LB Aaron Curry fell on a fumble... late in the scrimmage, the first team defense scored when CB Alphonso Smith returned an interception 36 yards for a touchdown... the Deacons worked extensively on the kicking game for much of the two-hour session... Wednesday night's scrimmage marked the end of the preseason for the Demon Deacons who begin gearing up for the season opener next Saturday at Groves Stadium against Syracuse... University President Dr. Nathan Hatch was in attendance to get a sneak peek at the 2006 Demon Deacons.

Quoting Head Coach Jim Grobe: "We had a real scrimmage tonight and let the kids compete. We've been working a lot of 1 vs 2 stuff to figure out which 2's are ready to be 1's. I thought both sides competed really well tonight. We covered some situations again -- coming off the goal line, backing the defense up, putting the offense and the defense in tough situations. I'm pleased with where we are right now. We've got a ways to go, but I'm happy.

"I thought our number one defense did some really good things. Certainly, I thought Riley Skinner did a nice job directing the 2's and the 1's. Ben (Mauk) had a nice night. We looked a lot crisper tonight, I thought, on both sides of the football. The nice thing is there were some wins and losses on both sides. We've been pretty physical, but we're in good shape with a week and a half to go."

Quoting Quarterback Benjamin Mauk: "The receivers really played well and that's one thing I'm excited about. What impressed me the most, though, was the younger quarterbacks and how they played. Riley Skinner played really well tonight. He proved that he can play and run this offense. So I was really impressed with Riley tonight. The other thing I was real happy about was the offensive line. They've got a lot of depth up there and they gave the quarterbacks a lot of time. And it's easy to hand to ball off to Micah Andrews and watch him run.

"I'm just real excited. We're 10 days away and we look pretty good. We still have some things to work on and we're not there yet, but I know we'll get better."

Quoting Linebacker Jon Abbate: "I hate missing practices and I hate missing scrimmages so it felt good to get back in and compete."

"We can get better. We competed and we flew around tonight. That's a start, but we haven't arrived. We have to keep working and we've got 10 more days. We'll get back to work tomorrow with Syracuse on our mind."

Scrimmage Highlights: LB Chantz McClinic sacked QB Benjamin Mauk on the first drive... moments later, Mauk avoided a rush and hit WR Kenneth Moore for a 35-yard gain... RB Micah Andrews rushed for a 26-yard touchdown run... QB Riley Skinner hit WR Nate Morton for a 13-yard gain and a first down... RB De'Angelo Bryant dropped a pitch that was recovered by LB Aaron Curry... on the first team offense's second drive that began at the two yardline, Mauk hit Moore and TE Zac Selmon for gains of 24 and 18, respectively... CB Channing Schofield forced Andrews to fumble, but the ball bounced out of bounds... Mauk scrambled for 15 yards and on the next play, handed off to FB Mike Rinfrette for a 1-yard touchdown... Skinner converted third down opportunities to Morton and Marion on the next drive... DT Zach Stukes sacked Skinner to stall the drive, but PK Sam Swank nailed a 30-yard field goal... on the next drive, Mauk scrambled out of the pocket and lowered his head though S Johnny Edwards for a 12-yard gain... later, Mauk rushed for a 24-yard gain to set up a five-yard touchdown run by Andrews... CB Kerry Major downed a Sam Swank punt inside the five yardline... Skinner scored on a nifty 13-yard touchdown run, shaking a defender out of his shoes... in the closing moments of the scrimmage, Skinner found Tereshinski for a 14-yard touchdown pass... QB Ryan McManus' pass was tipped by a receiver and was picked off by CB Alphonso Smith who returned 36 yards for a score.