Sorting out the spring game

This weekend the Portland State football team hammered out some details regarding next year’s starting line-up. The annual Viking spring game was held at Gresham High School on Saturday. The Vikings offense defeated the defense, 34-24 in a statistically based format.

The scoring heavily favors the offense in the 80-play game. Touchdowns are worth the traditional six points, field goals are three points and first downs are one point. Defense gets the raw deal of 3-and-out stops worth three points, turnovers are three points and defensive series stops are one point.

The defense looked unabashedly powerful against one of the best offensive lines in the conference getting ten sacks. However the numbers are a little distorted because the quarterbacks were not to be tackled. So on a simple diving touch a sack or tackle would be called and the play would be whistled dead. The defense was still very dominant allowing transfer tailback Mu’Ammar Ali 69-yards on nine carries. 46 of the yards were gained on a big run near the second half. Senior Kelena Ho’okano also added a measly 36-yards on 11 carries.

Head coach Tim Walsh was pleased with the play on both sides of the ball. Ali has been appointed the starter and Walsh has a lot of confidence in his ability. Ali won’t be a Joe Rubin-type and will come nowhere near 350 carries, but he will touch the ball around 20 times a game. The important thing for Coach Walsh is to see some action from his wideouts. The biggest play of the game came from starting senior quarterback Sawyer Smith, who completed a 70-yard pass to receiver Brandon Jones. Smith was 4-10 passing with 102 yards and the single touchdown. Smith would have had more success if not for three dropped passes early in the game.

The biggest question of the day was back-up quarterback. The contenders are junior transfer Danny Morales, junior Rob Freeman and redshirt freshman Tygue Howland. Morales went 6-10 passes for 32 yard but failed to get into the end zone after Ali’s big run. Howland was even more ineffective, going 4-7 for 56 yards and one interception. Rob Freeman made the best case for himself passing 3-3 for 100 yards and a score.

Freeman was the hottest passer on the day but was also always jumping out of the pocket and taking off only to be tapped by a defensive player. His two completions were to junior transfer Tremayne Kirkland who finished as the top wideout catching two balls for 89 yards and a score.

Freeman looks to be the leading back up for Smith; however, his lack of patience in the pocket may lead to his demotion. Morales is much smaller and didn’t try too many big passes on the day. Nonetheless he has an excellent understanding of the game. He uses quick, short passes to get the ball into the hands of the receiver and allow them to make a big play. If Morales has the chance to start he will have a high percentage of his passes caught but lack the big play arm that Freeman and Smith exhibit.

Midway through the first half Jeff Hoover’s offense showed a little ingenuity. In a four wide receiver set sophomore wide out Kyle Faulk cut back over the line of scrimmage faking a wide receiver screen. Faulk caught the pass and then rolled around pretending to run long enough for quarterback Tygue Howland to get open 31 yards down the field. Hoover’s new offensive mind has really breathed life into the dull run-first approach last year. Expect exciting things on the offensive side of the ball.

On defense the Vik’s looked tough. Recording 16 tackles for a loss and eight separate players getting to the quarterback. Top playmakers were Aaron Dickson who collected seven tackles including two for a loss. Walk-on linebacker Sione Ta’ufo’ou had two sacks and one pass break-up that could have been an interception. Redshirt freshman Ashton Lee had the only interception and senior defensive tackle Matthis Gehring recovered a fumbled snap on the very next play, helping the defense close the gap in the score but the defense still walked away with the loss.

The Vikings are poised to have a fantastic season. They have great depth at offensive line, a veteran quarterback, fresh blood at running back and a defense that never quits. Expect the Viks to really challenge for a spot in the D-IAA playoffs.