Offense edges defense 23-19 in final VMI spring football scrimmage

Brice Tucker scored on touchdown runs of nine and 12 yards to help lead the VMI offense to a 23-19 edge in a scored overtime scrimmage format held Saturday afternoon at Foster Stadium.

The Keydets closed out spring drills with the 34-play scrimmage held on a hot, sunny afternoon with temperatures approaching 90 degrees.

The offensive units took the upper hand early scoring on three of the first four overtime possessions sparked by the Tucker TD runs sandwiched around a 38-yard field goal by Tommy Smith.

The defense then gained momentum with stops on two of the final three possessions culminated by a jarring hit by outside linebacker Brian Lipscomb on the final play of the scrimmage.

In quarterback play, rising redshirt freshman Duncan Hodges completed 3 of 5 passes for 33 yards while rising redshirt sophomore Austin Coulling completed 2 of 4 passes for 30 yards including a scrimmage-long 22 yard completion to Tyain Smith. Smith also scored a touchdown on a 1-yard run on the next to last overtime possession.

Defensively, tackle Jarrod Richmond led the way with a tackle-for-loss for four yards and a quarterback hurry. Linebacker Elliott Brewster also logged a tackle for loss (-2) along with linebacker Tyler Fedison, defensive lineman John Mobley, and linebacker Tyler Fedison.

“The offense didn’t turn the ball over and that’s the third time we scrimmaged live tackling with zero turnovers,” said head coach Scott Wachenheim. “I thought we ran the ball better on the outside today which is what we need to do. I thought we played good defense for the majority of the game which is tough when you’re playing with your backs against the wall at the 25-yard line all day. We held out our best players arguably in Ryan Francis, Greg Sanders, and Allan Cratsenberg. I was also impressed by the way the team always competes and always tried to get better.  I thought we improved incredibly on our fundamentals during spring ball and when we come back I think we have to improve our consistency.”

Following the scrimmage, offensive lineman Stephen Miller and Brewster were announced as Most Improved Players for the spring practice camp.

VMI opens up preseason practice on Monday, July 31 with the season opener at Air Force September 2.