Cherry Silver '08

Michael Vickers and Rudy C. bring you the best Lobo football coverage from Saturday afternoon's Cherry Silver game in Santa Fe.

The University of New Mexico football team concluded its' 2008 spring practice schedule with the Cherry-Silver game held this season at Ivan Head Stadium in Santa Fe.  About 1,000 fans turned out for the traditional spring game on a warm, sunny afternoon in the City Different.  The scrimmage was a hard hitting, gritty affair with several quarterback sacks and jarring tackles.  There were fireworks from both sides of the ball with long touchdown passes to Jermaine McQueen and Bryant Willams as well as a few great stops and turnovers created by the always tough Lobo defense.  The Cherry team was made up of the starters on offense and defense for the first half of the game while the Silver squad was comprised of 2^nd team players and backups.  During the second half starters and backups were mixed to fill the two squads.  In the end the Cherry team dominated the silver squad by a final score of 35-7.

Bubba Forrest knocks one out of WR hands

 
Both the Cherry and Silver defenses controlled the opening quarter of action.  The Cherry offense was able to manage a few nice gains including a 13 yard completion from Donovan Porterie to Chris Hernandez and some tough inside runs by Rodney Ferguson.  Jermaine McQueen made a difficult first down catch on the sideline and Roland Bruno had a diving grab over the middle in other first quarter action.  So. CB Jerome Jenkins (Silver) was instrumental in thwarting the initial drives of the Cherry offense and had multiple pass breakups and blew up a screen pass intended for McQueen in impressive fashion for a 6 yard loss.

Click to listen to Clint "Killer" McPeek

 
The Silver offense was also not able to produce much by way of yardage in the early going against the seasoned Cherry defensive unit.  Jr. lobo Clint McPeek and Sr. DE Kevin Balogun were very active throughout the day.  McPeek stopped the run effectively and came free on a blitz to sack Silver QB Brad Gruner.  Kevin Balogun and the Cherry defensive line were able to largely keep talented Fr. RB James Wright bottled up as well during the opening period.

TD Rodney Ferguson

Click here to listen to Rodney Ferguson

The initial Cherry drive of the second quarter brought the first touchdown of the day on a short Rodney Ferguson run.  The scoring play was set up by solid gains by the Sr. on the direct snap play and an 11 yard off tackle run during which he shed several would be tacklers.  K James Aho added the extra point for a 7-0 Cherry lead.

A quick three and out by the Silver offense returned control of the ball to Donovan Porterie and the Cherry offense.  Jr. Roland Bruno made a catch for a 13 yard gain that was followed by a reverse to McQueen that resulted in a pickup of 16 yards.  Porterie targeted McQueen once more on the drive for a gain of 15 that brought the Cherry within striking distance.  After a Paul Baker run brought the offense inside the 1 yard line, Porterie found TE Mitch Straub in the back of the endzone to put the Cherry up 14-0.  Straub showed just how dangerous and frequently targeted the tight ends are in Coach Dave Baldwin's offense in goal line situations.  Expect to see many TD receptions by the Jr. and fellow TE Chris Mark this season.
Mitch Straub

Following the Straub TD the Cherry defense continued its stranglehold on the Silver offense as S Mica Williams successfully stripped RB KJ Corley of the ball on 2^nd down.  The fumble was recovered by S Frankie Soloman and returned for a nice gain to the Silver 10 yard line.  The Cherry offense had no trouble punching the ball in with such great field position as Paul Baker broke the plane of the endzone for a TD to make the Cherry lead 21-0 at halftime. 

 
The second half saw some mixing of the two squads to restore balance to the Cherry and Silver teams.  Redshirt freshman QB Brad Gruner, playing for the Cherry in the second half, made some impressive throws including one for a 22 yd gain to McQueen and another for an amazing TD grab by fellow redshirt freshman Michael Scarlett.  Scarlett, a Sandia HS product, made a great leaping catch in the corner of the endzone for the score to push the Cherry lead to 28 unanswered points.

Tate Smith surveys the field!

And who does he find...

WR Bryant Williams

Also impressive at the QB position for the Silver were Jr. Victor James and So. Tate Smith (cousin of Lobo great Stoney Case).  James looked very dangerous scrambling outside the pocket and running the QB draw from the shotgun formation.  Odessa Permain HS product Smith connected beautifully on a deep slant to So. WR Bryant Williams that resulted in a 77 yd. touchdown to put the Silver team on the board and make the score 28-7 Cherry.   

The final Cherry drive of the day included a second great Gruner-Scarlett connection and a Chris Hernandez TD reception from Gruner to make the final score Cherry 35 - Silver 7.  Though the Cherry squad dominated the score today there were impressive blows traded by both the offense and defense.  In an intra-squad scrimmage that indicates balance and should be the sign of a solid football team heading into fall camp.  It is expected that several of the interesting position battles such as the competition at OL and WR will continue into fall camp.  After today's action and great performances there is little doubt about the talent level that exists at these positions.  Coach Baldwin will simply need to find the right mix and chemistry for the season opener Aug. 30 vs. TCU.

Click here to listen to Coach Dave Baldwin

 

Notes: 

McQueen finished the game with 6 catches for 138 yards and a touchdown. 

Donovan Porterie finished 10-18 for 96 yards and one touchdown with no interceptions.  Sr. Rodney Ferguson had 58 yards on the ground and a touchdown.   

The Cherry defensive line was impressive with tackles for loss by Jr. Phillip Harrison and Sr. Kevin Balogun as well as some impressive stops by redshirt freshman Jaymar Latchison.    Also active were MLB Zach Arnett and lobo Clint McPeek each recording 6 tackles.

Wesley Beck and and Kevin Balogun chase down Victor James


Final thoughts by Mike Vickers and Rudy C.

Click here to listen to Vice President for Athletics Paul Krebs

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