Kearney, Neb. – The Nebraska-Kearney Gold team downed the UNK Blue team, 2-1, Saturday afternoon in the annual spring scrimmage at Ron & Carole Cope Stadium.

This was the 15th and final workout for the Lopers this spring. Practice started on March 23 with fall camp slated to begin in early August.

The coaching staff divided teams into equal groups with several key players, including All-American quarterback TJ Davis (Colorado Springs) and All-American safety Darius Swanson (Aurora, Colo.), going only two series. The first half featured 10-minute quarters with the third and fourth quarters last 13 minutes apiece. It was a running clock for most of the afternoon. 

The unique score came about as UNK's three place kickers – senior Junior Gonzalez (Corning, Calif.), sophomore Kyle Failing (Port Orchard, Wash.) and redshirt freshman Spencer Hogeland (Kearney Catholic) – each attempted a field goal when a team got into scoring position. The same would've been true for PAT's had either squad reached the end zone on another windy day at Foster Field.

Failing booted a 44-yard field goal with three minutes left in the half for the Blue and then nailed a 32-yard attempt with just seconds left in the quarter for the Gold. A defensive struggle saw the Gold cap an eight-play, 45-yard drive as Hogeland made a 43-yarder with 14 seconds left in the game. The Blue got another crack to score but a couple of passes fell well short.

The teams combined for 298 yards of offense with 271 of that coming on the ground as the Lopers attempted just 17 passes. The Loper "D" was strong on third down (combined 4 of 16) while recording nine tackles for loss and having one interception. That came from sophomore backer David Lilly (Wahoo).

Redshirt freshman QB Sean Johnson Jr. ran 20 times for 110 yards including a game-best 36 yarder. He also completed 4 of 9 passes with each completion going to a different teammate. Next, redshirt sophomore back Miko Maessner (Kearney) paced the Blue by running five times for 41 yards. Additionally, newcomer Justin Carrasco (Roswell, N.M.) had 37 yards on 10 carries with QB Shaun Ross (Raytown, Mo.) netting 27 yards on nine attempts.

Redshirt sophomore backer Amir Abdullah (Chicago) had a game-best seven tackles and was a member of the winning Gold team. Newcomer and d-linemen CJ Sunui (American Samoa) was in the backfield several times and has a sack with veteran end Tell Spies (Mullen) at three solo stops. Note the Loper QB's were not tackled but downed by "touch".

The Blue defense was led by Lilly (six tackles & two pass breakups), veteran safety Sethe Holt (Chicago) and outsider backer Caden McCormack (Lincoln SW). Holt had a team-best seven stops with McCormack at five total tackles. Finally, punters Traeton Harimon (44.5 avg.) and Hunter Kraus (40.6 avg.) had strong days with Kraus seeing four of his five attempts land inside the 20-yard line.