Team White Slips Past Team Black 10-7 in Annual Spring Game
HOUGHTON, Mich. – Michigan Tech placekicker Evan Gornick helped send Team White by Team Black 10-7 in the annual Spring Game Saturday afternoon at Sherman Field. Gornick drilled a 33-yard field goal as time expired in the fourth quarter for the game winner.
"I think it was a great day to be a Husky," Head Coach Steve Olson said. "Our kids came out and played hard and competed. Obviously you could see the excitement at the end of the game and it meant something to them. I was very happy with the way we played and I thought there were some good plays on both sides of the ball. I was happy with some of the runs we had and the throws our quarterbacks made. For the most part, I thought our receivers did a good job catching the ball. We made some solid plays on defense as well which included a couple of sacks and an interception."
Team White struck first on Saturday by finding the end zone late in the first quarter to go up 7-0. The defense had stopped Team Black on a fourth and one play to take over at their own 48-yard line. Running back Andrew Rose shouldered the load on the drive with carries of seven, twelve, and one yards before breaking loose for a 32-yard touchdown run with 1:10 on the clock.
Team Black would tie the game up before halftime with a combination of solid defense and power football in the red zone. Defensive back Antwon Curtis setup the touchdown when he picked off a Jake Brown pass at the 28-yard line and returned it 23 yards down to the five. Eric Kostreva got the call on the next two plays to punch it into the end zone on the ground. The extra point by Austin Chmura made it a 7-7 contest with just over five minutes to go in the half.
The defenses dominated for the rest of the half and throughout the entire third and most of the fourth quarter. Following a punt by Black, White took over on their own 13-yard line with 7:10 left to go in the fourth frame. The offense was able to move the ball down the field to get in place for the game winning field goal.
The key play proved to be a 38-yard pass from Brown to Kevin Kirkland on a third and 17, delivering the ball down to the Black 15-yard line. White drained the clock down to two seconds on the ensuing three plays and Gornick planted the ball through the uprights on 4th and 11.
Rose finished the game with 64 yards rushing and a touchdown to guide the White offense on Saturday. Brown completed eight of 12 passes for 84 yards while Ozzy Corp was successful on 5 of 7 attempts for 45 yards. Kirkland led the receivers in yardage with his 38-yard reception in the fourth quarter. As a team, White generated 186 yards of total offense with 129 coming through the air.
Quarterback Garrett Young paced Team Black on offense, completing 9 of 12 passes for 72 yards. Kostreva scored the touchdown on a three yard run and also made a couple of catches for 10-yards. Tyler Urban hauled in three receptions for 27-yards at the wide-out position. Max Maloney had six tackles including a pair of sacks for the defense while Curtis created the only turnover in the game with his interception.
"The main thing is that we had a great spring camp overall," Olson added. "We got 14 really good practices in and made some great progress with our team as we get set to head into the 2017 season opener on August 31st."
Saturday's game format was a little different compared to a regular season contest. There were four 12-minute quarters with a running clock except for the final two minutes of each half. There were no kickoffs and no returns on punts. The ball was placed at the 35-yard line to start each half and after scores.
Michigan Tech will again be selling VIP Football ticket packages for this fall. The packages include four tickets to all six home games plus access to the VIP Tailgate parties at the Pavilion. More details will be available when the packages go on sale in the next few weeks.
The Huskies will open the 2017 season at Sherman Field on Thursday night August 31st against Truman State. The kickoff is slated for 7 p.m.