Blue Team Knocks Off Gold, 10-7 in Spring Game
4/13/2018 8:41:00 PM | Football
Toledo, Ohio – The Blue Team defeated the Gold Team, 10-7, in the annual University of Toledo spring football scrimmage at the Glass Bowl Friday night. But it took a little bit of trickery to get the job done.
Junior wide receiver Desmond Phillips threw an 18-yard TD pass to sophomore quarterback Eli Peters on a reverse in the second quarter to open the scoring for the Blue side. The Gold team tied it up in the third quarter on a 29-yard scoring strike from junior Mitchell Guidagni to Diontae Johnson.
Redshirt freshman kicker D.J. Wellons booted a 29-yard field goal with about six minutes left in the final quarter for the win. Senior Jameson Vest tried a 45-yarder into the wind that would have tied the game with no time on the clock but his kick sailed wide left.
The scrimmage featured 10-minute quarters with a running clock and was completed in just over an hour. There were no live kicks and quarterbacks could not be tackled.
Junior Ronnie Jones, who moved from safety to running back this spring, led all rushers with 63 yards on eight carries. Redshirt freshman Bryant Koback, a transfer from Kentucky, added 45 yards on eight attempts.
Sophomore Bryce Mitchell led all receivers with three receptions for 58 yards. Johnson had two catches for 48 yards.
Head Coach Jason Candle played four different quarterbacks. Guidagni completed 6-10 passes for 86 yards, while Peters was 6-14 for 80 yards. Candle said he is "a long way from deciding who the starting quarterback will be."
"Some good, some bad, just like any practice," said Candle about his quarterbacks after the game. "We'll just continue to get better and continue to evaluate. They're going to make some mistakes. They don't have four or five years of experience like Logan Woodside had in this situation. We know that. We just need to do a great job of building a system around what they do well."
As for the team's performance overall, Candle said, "We're still a long way from where we want to be. But we have very talented players, strong senior leadership and a great coaching staff. Certainly, that's enough reason for me to be optimistic about this team."
The defending MAC champion Rockets open the 2018 season at home vs. VMI on Sept. 1.
