April 23, 2011
NORFOLK, Va. -- Nearly 3,100 12th Monarchs were in attendance at Foreman Field at S.B. Ballard Stadium to witness the Monarch defense take a 42-3 win in Saturday's annual Spring Game.
SPRING GAME HIGHLIGHTS:
VIDEO RECAP WITH HEAD COACH Bobby Wilder:
Corner Aaron Evans, who as a true freshman made 13 total stops last season, led the defense for the white jerseys with a team-leading four solo tackles in the seven segment spring game, including an interception in the end zone robbing teammate Prentice Gill of a touchdown for the offense.
Also giving the defense points on the scoreboard was an 11-yard interception return by linebacker Michael Colbert.
In all, the defense had four sacks - made by nose guard Alex Johnson, linebacker Craig Wilkins, strong safety Devon Simmons, and defensive end Edmon McClam. McClam had one solo sack and one assisted sack for a total of nine yards. Wilkins, who is among the top returning Monarch defenders in tackles for loss last fall, had a seven yard sack.
Offensively, quarterback Thomas DeMarco finished the game completing 13 of his 25 passes for 146 yards. On the receiving end, rising junior Nick Mayers had five catches for 43 yards and rising redshirt freshman Antonio Vaughan caught three passes for 31 yards.
On the ground, Angus Harper led the running backs with six carries for 16 yards, while rising sophomore Rashad Manley ran the ball six times for 10 yards.
The offenses' points came from kicker Jarod Brown who connected on a 46-yard field goal attempt.
PHOTO GALLERY:
Click here for photos from the game.
THE OYSTER BOWL IS BACK:
The Oyster Bowl, an annual college football game in Hampton Roads for 61 years, will return to Old Dominion University's Foreman Field at S.B. Ballard Stadium as a featured game on the Monarchs 2011 football schedule, as announced today by athletic director Dr. Wood Selig. Sponsored by the Chesapeake based Khedive Temple of Shriners International, the Oyster Bowl was played at ODU's stadium from 1946-1995. The Monarchs home contest on Oct. 29, against state and CAA rival James Madison University, will serve as this year's 62nd Oyster Bowl, with an additional $1 added to the ticket cost of this game to support the Shriners' Hospitals for Children. Click here for more info.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
Rich Radford of the Virginian Pilot featured Antonio Vaughan who coach Wilder noted last week has come up with a number of long receptions throughout spring practice.
Melinda Waldrop of the Daily Press talks about the peninsula products on the Monarch squad in her spring game recap and included sights and sounds from today's spring game.
Also don't forget to check out WAVY (Ch. 10), WVEC (Ch. 13), and WTKR (Ch. 3) in the Hampton Roads area during tonight's newscast. All three stations came out to cover the spring game this afternoon.
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