Blue Team Wins Defensive Battle, Captains and Most Improved Players Named at 2011 Spring Game
4/23/2011 3:45:00 PM | Football
NEW YORK - With weather that felt much more like an October evening than late April spring football game, the Columbia Blue team defeated the White team 7-6 in a defensive battle.
At the conclusion of the game, Seyi Adebayo and Zack McKown were named the 2011 Most Improved Players, while seniors Mike Stephens, Ross Morand, Bob Hauschildt and junior Sean Brackett were named captains for the 2011 season.
Stephens becomes the fifth Columbia football player in the last 11 years to be named captain for two seasons. Stephens, a 2010 captain, sustained a season-ending injury in the first game of the 2010. Stephens is returning for a fifth season in the fall.
Neither team scored until late in the second half, as Columbia spring game rules have a second half, 60-minute, running clock.
Quarterback Jerry Bell led the White team in a six-play, 61-yard scoring drive. Bell connected with Joey Andrada and Louis DiNovo for first downs in the drive, while Bruce Grant added four yards on the ground. Andrew McHugh ran in the score from five yards out. The PAT attempt failed on a bad snap.
Brackett let the Blue team 56 yards to the 19-yard line on the next possession, but failed to convert a fourth and 13. Brackett found DeVeau, Gerst and Sigmon for significant gains, while Brackett and Gerst added some yards on the ground.
On White's next possession, Christopher Thomas picked off Bell's third and five pass, and returned it 31 yards for the touchdown. Dean Perfetti added the PAT to give the Blue team the 7-6 edge.
Defensively, Morand led the White team with eight tackles, while Will Patterson, Brian East, Devan Luster and Marquel Carter totaled eight tackles each for the Blue team. Chris Alston added seven tackles for Blue.
Bruce Grant and David Chao led the White team in rushing with 49 and 36 yards respectively, while Marcorus Garrett and Nick Gerst led the Blue team with 45 and 29.
Bell went 16-31-1 for 160 yards to lead the quarterbacks, while Brackett went 9-30 for 75 yards.
Columbia opens the 2011 season at Fordham on Saturday, September 17.
