Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Football concludes fall camp with final scrimmage
08/26/2010 | 12:00:00 | Football
Aug. 26, 2010
By Jason Clay
SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Southern Illinois football team concluded pre-fall camp with its final scrimmage Thursday night under the lights at Saluki Stadium.
A strong crowd was in attendance to watch the offense go against the defense in various game situations. The Salukis worked on special teams and ran 64 plays, as SIU was fine-tuning its schemes before next Thursday's season opener against the Quincy Hawks.
As the Salukis continue to acquaint themselves with their new stadium, head coach Dale Lennon said that Thursday's scrimmage was a dress rehearsal for their first true game there.
"It was good just to go through everything and establish a routine," Lennon said. "We'll actually do this in practice one more time, just to make sure that come game day, our focus is on our play.
"I definitely liked what I saw (tonight). The thing I look for, I just wanted to make sure the offense is sharp, and defensively, you're you're looking for them to be lined up correctly, that they're making tackles."
Southern's offense went through three drives starting at its own 30-yard line, then had three starting at the 50 and concluded the scrimmage with its hurry-up offense and overtime scenarios.
The Saluki offense was successful moving the ball, scoring 30 points on the night and they were 8-of-14 on third-down tries.
Senior quarterback Chris Dieker completed 13-of-20 passes for 111 yards and had one touchdown. The TD capped off a nine-play, 70-yard drive to start the scrimmage and tight end Kyle Harruff was on the receiving end of his 6-yard pass for the score.
Freshman running back LaSteven McKinney provided the highlight of the night with his 48-yard touchdown run.
A big hole up the middle courtesy of the offensive line got him to the second level and he did the rest from there, taking two defenders out of their cleats with a cut-back move that allowed him to outrace the defense to the end zone.
Sophomore Anton Wilkins scored on a 22-yard touchdown run thanks to a key lead block from pulling guard Terrence Isaiah. Kicker Kyle Dougherty connected on field goals of 50 and 27 yards and freshman Jackson MacLachlin added a 26-yard field goal
Defensively, the Salukis got their reserves a lot of work. Freshman cornerback Kendall Lane led the team with four tackles. Courtney Richmond, another freshman corner, picked off the only pass on the night and nose tackle Myron Walker recovered a fumble on a muffed snap.
Lennon was happy with Thursday's results and said that his team is ready to play someone other than themselves.
"We're in game week, so we're ready to start preparing for another team," he said. "We're at a point right now where we cannot get better practicing against each other, so we need to play another team to take the next step, and we are right on schedule."
Southern Illinois hosts Quincy on Thursday, Sept. 2 at 7 p.m. in the inaugural game in Saluki Stadium.
