Richmond, Ky. – The Eastern Kentucky University football team needed overtime to decide the winner of Saturday’s annual Spring Game, and it was the Maroon squad which came out victorious, 26-23, behind the heroics of quarterback Steven Sizemore in front of a crowd of 2,650 at Roy Kidd Stadium. A native of Lost Creek, Ky., Sizemore connected with Matt Schoborg for a 24-yard strike down to the one-yard line, then punched in the game-winning touchdown to lead the Maroon team to victory.
Tied at 20-all after four quarters of action, head coach Danny Hope decided to send the contest into overtime with both teams starting from their opponents 25-yard line. The White team took the ball at the start of overtime but was held to a 40-yard Zach Wertz field goal. After sophomore Mark Dunn moved the chains with an 11-yard scamper, the White team looked to be in good shape with first and 10 at the 14-yard line. But a blocking penalty and a sack by Mark Cristiani and Jerome James killed the team’s momentum and forced them to settle for a field goal.
Sizemore immediately came out firing on the Maroon team’s possession. Though his first pass attempt was dropped in the end zone, Sizemore came right back and hit Schoborg for the 24-yard completion. On first and goal from the one, Sizemore plunged over the line to give the Maroon squad the win.
“We weren’t going to let it end in a tie, so we decided to send the game into overtime, but I was afraid it was going to go into double overtime there for a while,” said Hope. “I was very pleased with the crowd tonight. It was one of the biggest we have ever had for the spring game and we appreciate all of our fans for their support and enthusiasm because it adds a lot of fire to our program.”
Dunn led the White squad with a pair of touchdown runs in the loss, the first of which sent his team into the half with a 13-10 advantage. Sophomore wide receiver Quinton Williams matched Dunn’s production by catching a pair of scores, one from both Sizemore and freshman Zach Denton. Williams last touchdown catch tied the game at 20-all with 4.4 seconds left in the third quarter and would mark the last scoring by either team until overtime, as both defenses held tough in the fourth quarter.
Strong defensive play was a theme throughout the night and was never more evident than in the first half. On the White team’s second possession of the game, Maroon linebacker Jerome Jones picked off quarterback Josh Greco. The White team responded on the Maroon team’s ensuing possession, as Kody Tuupo intercepted a Sizemore pass and took it 90 yards for the first touchdown of the game.
Williams’ first touchdown catch, a five-yard pass from Denton, tied the game at 7-all with 9:27 to play in the second quarter. The Maroon went ahead 10-7 with 4:52 remaining in the half off a 35-yard field goal by Wertz, but trailed 13-10 at the half after an eight-yard touchdown run by Dunn (the extra point was blocked).
The Maroon team tied the game at 13-all thanks to Wertz’s second of three field goals on the night (a 42 yarder) with 6:35 left in the third quarter. Dunn tallied his second touchdown of the game just two minutes later to give the White team a 20-13 lead, which Williams erased with a 16-yard touchdown catch from Sizemore.
In the end, it was the steady play of the Maroon team’s defense which made the difference in the game, preventing the first-team White offense from moving the ball with any consistency in the fourth quarter and overtime session.
“We went live on the quarterbacks tonight, which I thought was a difference maker in the scrimmage and made things a little bit tighter on offense. I had the scrimmage organized so that our first teams played against each other. I wanted to see our best up against our best,” said Hope. “I was hoping that our first team offense would operate a little bit better than it did. A lot of times when you go into these scrimmages, the defense is told to play vanilla and they’re limited, but we went out there with an unabridged game plan and they blitzed a lot. That was a good test for our offense but made things harder on them. I think what is evident right now, is that our first team defense plays with a lot of confidence.”
