Bucknell Football Wraps Up Spring Practice with Intrasquad Scrimmage - BUCKNELL UNIVERSITY OFFICIAL ATHLETIC SITE

Bucknell Football Wraps Up Spring Practice with Intrasquad Scrimmage

Cale Cadman has 74-Yard TD Reception

All-Patriot Leaguer Shaun Pasternak hauls in a catch during Saturday's scrimmage.

April 25, 2009

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LEWISBURG, Pa. - The Bucknell football team wrapped up its 2009 spring practice campaign Saturday morning with a productive outing at a sunny and warm Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium. Among the many highlights was a 74-yard touchdown catch and run by Cale Cadman and strong defensive play by Casey Williams, who made a number of tackles and intercepted the very first pass in the scrimmage.

The scrimmage consisted of nine periods, each representing different phases of a football game from special teams to the two-minute drill to an overtime period.

"I liked that the guys came out ready to play," commented Bucknell head coach Tim Landis, who will be in his seventh season on the Bison sideline this coming fall. "A casual observer might not see exactly what we were trying to accomplish, but I was happy."

Four freshman quarterbacks - Burke Batten, Matt Harbin, C.J. Hopson, David Noshay - took the snaps for the Bison and most of the situations were performed with the Bucknell first-team offense facing the first-team defense, while the second teams went up against each other.

"All four freshman quarterbacks had their moments," mentioned Landis, who expects incumbent starter Marcello Trigg to be ready to play in the fall. "None of them have played a lot, so it was nice to see them on the field."

After a brief warmup period, the scrimmage began with the offense starting in a goaline situation and needing the score, which it did twice in three chances. Williams picked off Hopson's first pass and returned it approximately 15 yards, although Hopson later found Cadman for a touchdown and Batten scrambled through the right side of the offensive line to score on a second-and-goal play from the eight.

In the next phase, the offense took control of the ball at its own 5-yard line and had to convert a first down. Batten found Jamil Crews for an 11-yard completion on third down on the first set of downs, while Noshay scrambled for a first down on the second set after two plays earlier having a 30-yard run wiped out due to a penalty. During the first drive, linebacker Sam Nana-Sinkam, who missed the second half of the 2008 campaign with an injury, was in on three consecutive tackles.

"I was impressed with the offense in the coming out drive with both the first and second teams executing," said Landis. "The defense played better in the drive portion and came up with a turnover in the red zone. They also pressured the quarterback well."

Next up was the first of two drive the ball phases where the offense took possession at is own 30 and had to drive down the field and score a touchdown. Each of the four quarterbacks got a chance at this drill and Hopson moved his unit the farthest, reaching the opposite 29-yard line thanks to an 18-yard run and an acrobatic catch in traffic by Shaun Pasternak that went for 19 yards.

Bucknell then practiced punting as Andrew Bell kicked five consecutive punts with Nathan Zurisko fair catching each one. The longest of the boots was a 38-yarder.

The final phase before a brief halftime break was a sudden change situation, where the offense took over on the 50 and needed to score. Hopson led the Bison offense inside the 5-yard line thanks to a 23-yard completion to Pasternak. Harbin stepped in for the final three plays and after two failed QB sneaks, he completed a fourth-down pass to Josh Lee, but Bryce Robertson and Williams were on him quickly for a two-yard loss. Batten quarterbacked the offense on the next drive and on the second play found Marlon Woods on a screen pass that ended up going for a 5-yard touchdown.

The second drive the ball phase followed halftime and among the big defensive plays during this sequence were a fumble recovery by Tyler Anderson and four forced incomplete passes on third downs.

An overtime situation followed and on the first play Harbin found a wide open Pasternak for a 25-yard strike. The offense then settled for a 37-yard field goal by Orth on its next possession.

The second-to-last phase brought special teams to the forefront again as Andrew Bell and Orth combined to connect on 4 of 6 field goals from varying distances.

A pair of up-tempo, two-minute drill situations closed the 90-minute scrimmage and this is where Harbin found Cadman for his 74-yard touchdown. After a sack and two incompletions made it 4th-and-18, Harbin connected with Cadman over the middle of the field and the rising senior outran a handful of defenders the final 50 yards.

The defense ended on a good note, though, as it stopped the offense from scoring at the 2-yard line. After five completions by Noshay moved the offense to the goal line, an incomplete pass on fourth down ended the drive and the scrimmage.

Bucknell will next be in pads when it opens its 2009 campaign Sept. 5 at Duquesne. The Bison home opener is slated for Sept. 12 against Robert Morris. Bucknell is slated to begin preseason practice approximately Aug. 9.