During a 2 1/2-hour scrimmage Wednesday evening, Bowling Green’s football team ran approximately 160
plays with the offense holding the edge over the defense.
"It was a great scrimmage," said Alex Bayer, a redshirt sophomore tight end. "The first
time out there with the O-line, the defense, it was great getting out there.
"The mesh that we had in the spring to where we are now in the whole offense, it’s grown so much.
I’m happy where this team is going. We just have to keep it up the rest of camp."
The scrimmage started with a 94-yard kickoff return for a score by John Pettigrew.
The Falcon offense started slowly, although wide receiver Shaun Joplin, a redshirt sophomore, made two
nice catches and runs in the early going.
Redshirt freshman Trent Hurley then led three scoring drives. Hurley had a 21-yard TD run, connected with
Eugene Cooper on a 49-yard screen pass, and hitting Bayer with a 7-yard score.
Matt Schilz, a redshirt sophomore, then scored on an 11-yard run and Kyle Burkhardt kicked a pair of
32-yard field goals. Burkhardt and Stephen Stein each kicked two extra points.
Late in the scrimmage, freshman running back Anthon Samuel showed some ability and scored on a 1-yard
run.
"The offense got the better of the defense tonight. That’s the first time that’s really happened in
2011," said BG head coach Dave Clawson. "We made some big plays on offense. We converted some
third downs. We didn’t turn the football over. We did a lot of really good things.
"The offensive line continues to improve," Clawson continued. "We’ve still got to get
better … To see us making progress there, that’s really encouraging."
While Clawson was pleased with the offense, for the most part, he said the defensive units gave up too
many big plays.
"Because we are playing better on the offensive line, more plays are getting into the perimeter and
we’re extremely young in the secondary," Clawson said. "We have to get those guys up to game
speed as fast as we can."
Schilz and Hurley saw the majority of playing time at quarterback Wednesday, while Matt Johnson and Malik
Stokes, a pair of freshmen, played later in the scrimmage.

"It worked out to be pretty balanced," Clawson said about playing time for Schilz and Hurley.
"We’re loading both those guys up with reps (repetitions) and they’re both probably playing better
now than we had at quarterback at any point last year. They are both doing a nice job."
The Falcons also worked on some punts and in the red zone.
"We got a lot of plays in," Clawson said. "Young teams need experience and one way to do
that is to go long in scrimmages. This wasn’t a half-practice, half-scrimmage. We got out here, started
going, and just let the guys plays. We’ll coach it off the film."
BAYER: Bayer is coming back from a knee injury suffered during spring drills.
Now, he’s able to go 100 percent in practice.
"It feels great. The first practice coming out it was a little sore. But each and every day, it’s
gotten better to the point where I can’t even feel it," Bayer said.
Bayer is part of a strong group of tight ends.
"We tell the quarterbacks to just keep feeding us. Feed us the peanuts. They call us the elephants,
(so) feed us some peanuts, keep throwing to us," Bayer said. "We’re not going to be making
moves or anything, but we’ll put our shoulder down and get the extra yard."
ROLF: Clay Rolf, a redshirt freshman tight end from Eastwood High School, caught a 35-yard pass from
Johnson late in the scrimmage. The play drew a big cheer from Rolf’s offensive teammates on the
sideline.
NO TD: Mark Mays, a redshirt sophomore, had his 100-yard interception return of a pass thrown by Stokes
wiped out by an excessive celebration penalty. Taking away the score is part of a new NCAA rule.
INJURIES: Linebacker Dwayne Woods Jr. (toe), wide receiver Kamar Jorden (muscle tightness), wide receiver
Adrian Hodges (muscle tightness), and safety Aaron Foster (bruised shoulder) were held out of the
scrimmage as a precaution.
This allowed some younger player to gets more plays, including linebacker Gabe Martin and Joplin.
Scott Lewis, a fifth-year senior offensive linemen, has suffered a knee injury and Clawson said he would
probably be out 2-3 weeks and might not be ready for the season-opener against Idaho on Sept. 1.
Zach Akenberger, a fifth-year senior fullback from Bowling Green High School, remains sidelined after
surgery on his leg.
NEXT SCRIMMAGE: BG is scheduled to scrimmage Aug. 18 starting at 7 p.m. in Perry Stadium.
"The first scrimmage you let them play," Clawson said. "The next scrimmage you have to
make sure you hit those situations – two-minute, coming out, overtime, things that will happen during
the course of the game."