April 4, 2013
SPRINGFIELD -- Coach Terry Allen's football Bears spent the last part of Wednesday's practice gearing up for Saturday.
Allen's troops lined up for just over 60 plays in a modified half-scrimmage Wednesday as a dress rehearsal for Saturday morning's first full scrimmage at Plaster Field. Missouri State will take to the field at 9:30 a.m., Saturday for the first of three full intrasquad spring scrimmages. The Bears will also scrimmage April 13 and April 20 -- the annual Maroon and White Game.
On Wednesday, a lot of players were involved on both sides of the ball. The MSU defense held nine different ball carriers to 2.4 yards per carry with the offense accounting for 79 yards on 33 carries. The offense had more success through the air with 11 different receivers accounting for 15 catches on 26 pass plays for 190 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
The first score of the afternoon came when a pair of redshirt freshmen connected on a 24-yard pass with third-string quarterback Brodie Lambert going deep to receiver Stacey Thornton. Junior starter Kierra Harris later hooked up with classmate Julian Burton from 30 yards out in the only other touchdown of the session.
Thornton led all receivers with 3 receptions for 46 yards, while Eric Christophel (2-41) and Dorian Buford (2-10) were the only other wideouts with multiple catches. Harris was 3-for-5 for 67 yards but was sacked twice, while Ashton Glaser completed 8-of-15 passes for 56 yards. Glaser was sacked once but was picked off by senior cornerback Jeremiah Plowden in a huge drive-ending turnover created by the Bears' defense.
On the ground, it was junior walk-on Austin Cahoy who stole the spotlight from the regulars, accounting for a team-high 52 yards on 11 carries. Junior Josh Mattes tacked on 5.8 yards per carry with 23 yards on 4 attempts.
Kicker Austin Witmer was perfect in his only extra point attempt of the afternoon and went 1-for-2 on field goal attempts with a successful 32-yarder.
The Bears also announced a series of season ticket packages Wednesday, making a number of affordable options available for the the club's six home games this fall.
