SPORTS
The defense was tight in pass coverage and forced three turnovers, but a struggling offense managed to pull out a 24-23 victory as FAU held its 10th annual spring football game at the Tom Oxley Athletic Field on Saturday, April 24.
Despite the score and a pair of big runs, the offense had struggled to produce consistent positive yards due to poor decision making by the quarterbacks.
“I don’t feel like we won at all,” said senior quarterback Jeff Van Camp. “We didn’t execute very well. The defense got to us, and we left a lot of plays on the field.”
Van Camp went 13-20 for 126 yards with two interceptions and one touchdown, a three- yard pass to sophomore running back Xavier Stinson in the second half. Both of Van Camp’s interceptions came in the first half courtesy of junior safety Marcus Bartels and senior cornerback Tavious Polo.
“I feel like we got a lot accomplished in this scrimmage,” said Polo. “We got a lot more guys running to the ball and wanting to play.”
In addition to the interceptions, sophomore defensive lineman Nick Osborne managed to recover a fumble in the second half. After picking up the loose ball, Osborne looked like he was headed for the end zone, but stumbled over as he ran and was ruled down.
The offense came away with two big rushing touchdowns in the first half. The first was a 35 yard scamper by senior running back Willie Floyd, who finished with nine carries for 58 yards. The second was a 60 yarder by senior running back David Muniz, who finished with five rushes for 63 yards.
Of the 10 receivers to catch a pass in the spring game, senior tight end Rob Housler led the team with six receptions for 73 yards.
The final score of the day came from sophomore quarterback Graham Wilbert on a three-yard pass to sophomore fullback Chris Jackson. Wilbert finished 7-11 for 56 yards and one touchdown.
“It was a perfect spring game score,” said Head Coach Howard Schnellenberger. “The defense worked on forcing turnovers throughout the spring. If our offense can eliminate the obvious, we can have a productive offense. The pieces are there on both offense and defense.”
