By Whitney Spencer
?The University of Louisville’s annual Red-White Spring Game showed extreme promise on offense and a little more of the same on defense.
With a balanced offense that committed no turnovers and an improving defense that created five sacks, the Cardinals gained a lot at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium in front of a faithful crowd of 17,200. Last year’s Red-White scrimmage drew a larger, record crowd of 28,000, but in different fashion was dominated by the defense which intercepted the ball four times.
On Friday night, the Cardinals goal was to be effective. The effectiveness came in a large part to the balance with 36 runs and 27 passes which stands out against last year’s game that ended with 36 runs and 73 passes. This performance left students with many mixed feelings.
“I am hoping they can come out and prove everyone wrong but I don’t want to get my hopes up,” Shelby Spradlin, sophomore education major, said.
Even though the final score of the game holds the Red, the offense, over the White, defense, 38-17, there was much promise oozing from the team in this 12 series game which ran without a game clock. The offense finished with a total of 401 yards, including 201 on the ground.
Starting quarterback Hunter Cantwell finished 11-of-18 for 103 yards and a touchdown while leading three scoring drives. Two other quarterbacks, redshirt freshman Matt Simms and sophomore Tyler Wolfe, also generated touchdown drives in the first half. Simms completed a 35-yard touchdown pass to end the first half of play. On the fourth series, Wolfe created and completed a skillful scramble that established a 23-yard touchdown pass.
“I saw a lot of potential from the new comers,” Brian Morrison, sophomore accounting major, said. “I think they can take us back to a bowl game where we belong.”
The defense came up big in the middle of the game to keep things close. Senior defensive tackles Earl Heyman and Adrian Grady had two sacks each and helped the Cardinals produce pressure needed up front even with the seeming lack of depth.
Adding to the yardage were running backs senior Brock Bolen, sophomore Bilal Powell and redshirt freshman Vic Anderson. Bolen led all running backs with 13 carries for 76 yards and Powell finished with eight carries for 69 yards. Anderson showed impressive speed and quickness inside and outside tackles with 62 yards on nine carries.?
With this scrimmage being the final practice of the spring, players and fans still have a lot in store for them before the season opener against the University of Kentucky on August 31. Overall, fans seemed pleased and very optimistic for a success with this still evolving program and weren’t hesitant to express such emotion.
“My expectations are higher than last year after the spring game,” Jason Shultz, sophomore accounting major, said.
