BlueWhiteIllustrated.com - Blue earns 27-14 win in annual Blue-White scrimmage

April 19, 2008

Nate Bauer
BlueWhiteIllustrated.com Editor

Happy Valley could not have looked better than it did on Saturday afternoon.

With the parking lots loaded with tailgaters, a complete carnival with rides and food outside, a packed Beaver Stadium, and the sun shining down, it was a perfect scene.

Throw in the completion of the 2008 spring practice session for the Penn State football team with the annual Blue White Game and all seemed well in the world for Nittany Lions' fans.

In front of a reported 73,000 fans, the Lions showed off for the crowd in an action-packed first half. Although play turned sloppy later in the game, there was plenty of excitement early.

In fact, redshirt freshman running back Stephfon Green started the action early with a 57-yard touchdown run right off the bat, only three plays into the scrimmage.

It was a thing of beauty as quarterback Pat Devlin pitched the ball to Green in the backfield on the nearside, who then simply took off, burning through the secondary and edging cornerback Tony Davis in a footrace to the goalline.

With the second-team players on the White team and the first-teamers on the Blue, it was the White team that struck first, giving them a 7-0 lead.

Not to be outdone, redshirt junior quarterback Daryll Clark and the Blue squad came firing back.

Starting wth the ball at their own 35-yard line, Clark led the Blue straight down the field, highlighted by a Derrick Williams halfback pass to Deon Butler for a 35-yard gain. Only two plays later, redshirt sophomore Evan Royster capped the drive with a 4-yard touchdown run.

The next series was unsuccessful for the White team but Clark and the Blue came back quickly, throwing a 22-yard seam route strike to tight end Mickey Shuler and capping the drive with a beautiful 33-yard TD pass to Williams to put the Blue squad up 14-7 at the conclusion of the first quarter.

In the second-quarter, quarterback Paul Cianciolo brought the White squad right back in it with a seven-play, 49-yard touchdown drive, capped by a 2-yard Joe Suhey plunge into the end zone.

Some of the statistical highlights of the day included Green's 87-yards rushing on 12 carries with a touchdown, Brandon Beachum's 55-yards rushing on seven carries.

In the passing department, Devlin finished going 12-for-18 for 122 yards and a touchdown while Clark went 9-for-16 with 106 yards and two touchdown passes.

On the receiving end, tight end Andrew Szczerba led all receivers with 5 catches for 65 yards, followed by Brett Brackett's three catches for 25 yards and a touchdown.

Defensively, end Aaron Maybin was a force, making 3.5 sacks and six tackles for the White team while Ollie Ogbu had a day of his own on the Blue squad, making six tackles and two sacks.

Penn State NEWS

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