Kennesaw State’s offense defeated its defense 59-51 in its spring game on Saturday at Fifth Third Bank Stadium.
The game's scoring didn't follow a traditional format. Instead, the coaches tried to reward each unit for big plays and other key moments (offense could earn one point for a third-down conversion; defense could earn one point for a stop on third down).
The winners on the day may have been backup quarterback Daniel David in his competition with Chandler Burks to be the next man up behind Trey White, and B-back Micah Reed and Jake McKenzie.
“When you look at it there’s a lot of good things on both sides,” coach Brian Bohannon said. “Things we can learn from and build on.”
The biggest smiles may have come at the end of the post-game press conference, when the offense was reminded that on Monday it will get to eat a catered meal of ribs and chicken because it won the scrimmage. The losers, the defense, will eat hot dogs and baked beans.
“It’s fair” defensive lineman Nick Perrotta said. “I’ll give the offense credit.”
There were many things that the coaching staff wanted to see on Saturday because they were areas of focus during the previous 13 practices.
The first was an improved ability run between the tackles.
The second was the play of the quarterbacks.
The third was better tackling. Most of the mistakes made by the defense weren’t the result of poor tackles. The team allowed just a few runs of at least 15 yards, and the long pass plays were the result of busted coverages.
The defense was particularly strong on option plays and called runs to the outside, with just one run of at least 15 yards allowed.
“When the ball got on the perimeter it wasn’t as bad (as last year),” Bohannon said. “Inside, there were some that they could have gotten down. I didn’t notice anything glaring. In space, there have been plays it’s been hard to get guys on the ground.”
Bohannon said defensive back Derrick Farrow did good job coming up to end several plays with a solid tackle. Farrow, safety Taylor Henkle and defensive back Raekwon Chatman led the defenses with seven tackles each.
Perrotta said the team focused on improving its tackling with various drills throughout the spring practices.
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