April 1, 2006

SAN DIEGO - The San Diego State football team showcased its run game in Saturday's second scrimmage of the spring, as the Aztec offense racked up 237 yards on the ground in an 88-play workout, which lasted over an hour and a half at the team's on-campus practice facility.

"I thought overall the execution was good on both sides of the football," SDSU head coach Chuck Long said. "I was looking for a few things. I was looking for an improvement on penalties over last week, which we did, and better alignment on assignment, which we did. We still need to take care of the ball better, but defensively we created some turnovers, which was plus for them."

All four offensive touchdowns on the day came via the ground with redshirt freshman Atiyyah Henderson (Rockledge, Fla.) scoring two of them. Sophomore quarterback Darren Mougey (Scottsdale, Ariz.) added another from eight yards out, while the scrimmage concluded with a touchdown by junior Brett Swain (Carlsbad, Calif.) on a first down and goal from the nine.

Three SDSU running backs combined for 40 carries and 216 of the 237 rushing yards. Henderson ran 15 times for 83 yards, while junior Brandon Bornes (Vista, Calif.) had 16 carries for 73 yards. Junior Lynell Hamilton (Stockton, Calif.) did most of his work in the first half, finishing the day with nine carries for 60 yards.

The first half saw the defense shut the offense down on six of the eight first-half possessions. After a 42-yard Garrett Palmer (Rialto, Calif.) field goal, the defense did not allow a score on next six drives, stopping one on downs and returning another 79 yards for a touchdown on a fumble recovery by defensive back Josh Walker (Tampa, Fla.).

Just before the halftime break, the offense stepped up to put together an eight-play, 74-yard scoring drive, highlighted by a pair of Henderson runs, including a 30-yard effort and the 19-yard scamper for his first touchdown of the afternoon.

The defense recovered another fumble to start the second half and then turned back the offense on downs on the next possession. Mougey got the offense back on the scoreboard on the next drive, capping a nine-play, 67-yard drive with an eight-yard TD.

The offense started each of its last four possessions within the defense's 20-yard line. After a missed field goal, Henderson tallied his second score on a two-yard run, which was followed by a 27-yard field goal by Stephen Robles (Redlands, Calif.) and the final touchdown by Swain.

Three Aztec quarterbacks combined to complete just 15 of their 27 pass attempts for 102 yards. Junior Kevin O'Connell (Carlsbad, Calif.) accounted for 60 yards through the air and Mougey completed six of his seven attempts. Swain (3 catches, 21 yards) and sophomore Marcus Montgomery (2-21) were the leading receivers with three others adding two receptions apiece.

The defense recorded nine tackles for loss and added two sacks and two fumble recoveries. Senior safety Brett Sturm (Littleton, Colo.) was the leading tackler with nine, while linebacker Brett Martin (Corona, Calif.) was one behind with eight. Four Aztecs had six tackles apiece and defensive tackle Frederick Amano (San Diego, Calif.) had a solid outing with four tackles, including two for loss, and one forced fumble.

San Diego State begins the second half of spring drills Tuesday with the first of three weekday practices, followed by the final on-campus intrasquad scrimmage on Saturday afternoon.

Scoring Drives
Garrett Palmer 42-yard field goal - 11 plays, 55 yards
Josh Walker 79-yard fumble return
Atiyyah Henderson 19-yard run (Palmer kick) - 8 plays, 74 yards
Darren Mougey 8-yard run (Palmer kick) - 9 plays, 67 yards
Atiyyah Henderson 2-yard run (Hughes kick) - 6 plays, 18 yards
Stephen Robles 27-yard field goal - 4 plays, 5 yards
Brett Swain 9-yard run - 1 play, 9 yards

Offensive Stats
TEAM RUSHING TOTALS (carries-yards-touchdowns)
Atiyyah Henderson 15-83-2, Brandon Bornes 16-73-0, Lynell Hamilton 9-60-0, Darren Mougey 5-9-1, Brett Swain 1-9-1, Mekell Wesley 1-8-0, Kevin Craft 1-6-0, Kevin O'Connell 2-1-0. TOTALS 50-237-4.

TEAM PASSING TOTALS (completions-attempts-interceptions yards touchdowns)
Kevin O'Connell 8-14-0 60 0, Darren Mougey 6-7-0 34 0, Kevin Craft 1-6-0 8 0. TOTALS 15-27-0 102 0.

TEAM RECEIVING TOTALS (number-yards-touchdowns)
Brett Swain 3-21-0, Marcus Montgomery 2-21-0, Atiyyah Henderson 2-10-0, Alex Ghebreselassie 2-10-0, Mekell Wesley 2-8-0, Waika Spencer 1-14-0, Brian Spinks 1-7-0, Brandon Bornes 1-6-0, Ramal Porter 1-5-0. TOTALS 15-102-0.

Defensive Stats
TACKLES (total-unassisted)
Brett Sturm 9-2, Brett Martin 8-1, Marc Hull 6-3, Gerard Armstrong 6-2, Joe Martin 6-1, Ornan Nwansi 6-1, Nick Osborn 5-1, Jonathan Soto 5-1, Frederick Amano 4-1, Russell Allen 4-0, Tony DeMartinis 3-3, Aaron Moore 3-3, Josh Walker 3-2, Siaosi Fifita 3-1, Luke Laolagi 3-1, Antwan Applewhite 3-0, Donny Baker 2-1, Freddy Dunkle 2-1, Scotty James 2-1, Josh Cunningham 2-0, Avery Williams 2-0, Reggie Grigsby 1-1, Trevor Parrington 1-1, Jonathan Bailes 1-0, Josh Duran 1-0, Kwan Howard 1-0, Terrell Maze 1-0, Michael Shields 1-0, Andrew Sterndale 1-0. TOTALS 95-28.

QUARTERBACK SACKS (total-yards)
Nick Osborn 1-8, Antwan Applewhite 0.5-3, Frederick Amano 0.5-3. TOTALS 2-14.

TACKLES FOR LOSS (total-yards)
Frederick Amano 2-9, Nick Osborn 1-8, Antwan Applewhite 1-3, Reggie Grigsby 1-3, Joe Martin 1-3, Marc Hull 1-3, Trevor Parrington 1-1, Team 1-4. TOTALS 9-34.

FUMBLES RECOVERED (number-return yards-touchdowns)
Josh Walker 1-79-1, Marc Hull 1-0-0. TOTALS 2-79-1.

FORCED FUMBLES (number)
Frederick Amano 1, Joe Martin 1. TOTALS 2.

PASSES BROKEN UP
Reggie Grigsby 1, Scotty James 1. TOTALS 2.

Kicking Statistics
FIELD GOALS (made-attempted sequence)
Garrett Palmer 1-2 (42gd, 53ng), Stephen Robles 1-1 (27g), Michael Hughes 0-1 (44ng). TOTALS 2-4.

PUNTING (number-yards-average)
Michael Hughes 2-87-43.5, Garrett Palmer 1-41-41.0. TOTALS 3-128-42.7.

Miscellaneous
PENALTIES Offense 4-20, Defense 0-0.