Green-White Game Ends in Tie
TAHLEQUAH, Okla.— Northeastern State’s annual Green-White Spring football game was played to an 8-8 tie Saturday afternoon at Doc Wadley Stadium/Gable Field..
Third-year head coach Kenny Evans said overall “he was pleased with the spring drills and would have graded his squad’s performance in the Green-White game as a B-minus”, adding “we still have a lot of work to do.
“The main thing is we wanted our kids to have fun and still compete. We tried to split the teams as evenly as we could and let them have a little bit more fun with this under somewhat game conditions.
“No one lost today and they had a lot of fun with it after 14 tough days of physical football practice this spring.”
The game concluded the RiverHawks spring drills in which the Green squad dominated much of the second half until the final White possession of the game. The Green’s LaRon Elmer, who scored on a 17-yard sprint up the middle and added the point-after attempt at the 6:04 mark of the third quarter, putting the first points on the board.
Elmer led all rushers in the game with 98 yards on 16 carries with Josh Lewis adding 57 yards on 9 carries for the Green.
“Our running game is very good and there are two things that will help us next fall,” said Evans. “Our offensive line is returning intack. A lot of those same guys were starting as freshman two years ago and last year. That’s the biggest thing.
“Then LaRon Elmer, Prince (McKinney), Josh Lewis and Chris Davis, Austin Martin all did a great job today,” said Evans.
The Green squad rotating three quarterbacks, Kenny Davis and Ryan Nolan and Andrew Rice finished 7-of-19 vie the air and had one interception for 48 yards. The Green squad finished with 157 yards on 32 carries on the ground and finished with 237 yards in total offense.
The White squad scored on its last possession of the contest when Chris Davis scored from two yards out to cap a 15-play drive with 17 seconds on the clock. On the TD run the White team was slapped with a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after the play.
On the point-after-attempt from the 18-yard line, Pat Cook connected with Ben Randle in the end zone for the conversion to tie the game.
Cook was the White squad’s leading ground gainer with 49 yards on 11 carries with Prince McKinney adding 25 yards on 8 carries. Using two quarterbacks, Cook and Cale Fulps, the White squad was 11-of-26 with 3 interceptions for 87 yards in the air.
The White squad finished with 109 yards on 27 carries on the ground and 196 yards in total offense.
“The thing we didn’t want to see was the Interceptions (4 total in the game),” said Evans. “But in this type of game when it’s not all starters out there at one time, you might be the starting quarterback, but your guards and tackles may be you back-up players, it’s a little tougher.
“I wished they wouldn’t have thrown the ball away because turnovers are the biggest way to lose a football game. I thought Kenny Davis , Patrick Cook did some good things and so did Cale Fulps, along with Ryan Nolan. All of them had moments, but weren’t able to sustain drives like we would like, but hopefully we will be able to in the fall.”
The RiverHawks did have a rash of injuries during spring drills which changed the format of the contest, but Evans said all are expected to be fit and ready for the opening of fall practice.
The RiverHawks will report for fall drills on August 8th in preparation for its season opener on Sept. 2nd, at Tarleton State in Stephenville, Texas.
GREEN 8 WHITE 8
Green 0 0 8 0 – 8
White 0 0 0 8 – 8
G—LaRon Elmer 17 run (Elmer run).
W—Chris Davis 2 run (Ben Randle 18 pass from Pat Cook).
