In the annual Silver and Blue game for Nevada, the defense shined as the Blue team defeated the Silver team 40-26 in front of a crowd of approximately 2,700 fans at Mackey Stadium on Saturday.
The game was played under a modified scoring format created for this game where the offense earned points for scores and long plays while the defense earned points for turnovers, sacks and holding the offense without points.
The Wolf Pack defense was the story of the scrimmage as they were able to successfully put pressure on the offense which led to interceptions by both senior defensive tackle Rykeem Yates and linebacker Jake Lacaten. Safety Asauni Rufus led the defense with seven tackles while Patrick Choudja, Jordan Silva, and Lenny Jones each had a sack today.
In total, the Wolf Pack defense held the offense to two touchdowns and two field goals in 13 offensive possessions. Wolf Pack head coach Brian Polian was impressed with the performance of the defense.
"I'm not surprised," Polian said. He also said that "There are more seniors over there and they came out today with the thought that they were going to fly around have some fun."
The story on the offensive side of the ball was the three-way quarterback race between Hunter Fralick, Tyler Stewart and Dante Mayes. Fralick got most of the reps with the first team offense today as he went near perfect completing 8 of 9 passes for 62 yards and led a touchdown drive of 70 yards.
Tyler Stewart went 5 of 11 for 49 yards but threw an interception and Dante Mayes went 3 of 4 passing for 36 yards and threw an interception as well. Despite Fralick outperforming the other two quarterbacks, Coach Polian quieted any speculation of Fralick being the starter at quarterback.
"It's a three-man race with a long, long way to go," Polian said. "The summer matters and certainly the early portion of training camp is going to mean a great deal, too."
Also on offense, sophomore running back James Butler finished off a strong spring practice by carrying the ball seven times for 70 yards and scoring a touchdown. Elsewhere on offense, the Wolf Pack scored on trick play as junior wide receiver Jerico Richardson took a pitch and found fellow junior wide receiver Kameron Richardson in the end zone for a 12 yard touchdown pass.
Junior placekicker Brent Zuzo contributed to the scoring by nailing two field goals from 48 yards and 52 yards at the end of the game.
After the game Coach Polian said, "We got some good work done and had a little bit of fun. We came out healthy. I'm pleased with it."
Polian is hoping the team comes together as a football team throughout the summer and be in great shape by the time the Wolf Pack play their season opener against UC Davis on September 3rd.