Montana State enters the final week of spring drills.
Photo by: Kelly Gorham
Cunningham's 'Big-Time Kick' Caps Saturday Scrimmage
4/17/2010 6:22:31 PM | Football
Jason Cunningham nailed a long field goal to end a back-and-forth scrimmage
Jason Cunningham capped a 53-yard drive with a 44-yard scrimmage-ending, game-winning field goal in Montana State's final tune-up before next Saturday's spring finale at Bobcat Stadium.
Cunningham's boot capped a back-and-forth scrimmage in which both the Bobcat offense and defense showed positive signs. At the end of the day, though, MSU coach Rob Ash was glad the day's outcome rested on his kicker's right foot. “Jason deserves a lot of credit for making that field goal, and for the spring he's having,” Ash said. “That wasn't an easy kick, but when he runs out there I think everyone in the stadium feels like it's automatic. When you think back, he has really had a tremendous positive influence on this program.”
Cunningham's kick capped a solid two-minute drive for the Bobcat offense. Freshman quarterback Denarius McGhee completed seven of his nine pass attempts after starting at his own 15-yard line, including a 22-yarder to Kruiz Siewing on a fourth-and-20 situation to keep the drive alive near midfield. “That was an impressive drive,” Ash said. “The offense did a very nice job moving down the field to get into field goal range.”
McGhee finished the scrimmage 9-for-14 passing for 65 yards. He was sacked twice, but did not turn the ball over. In fact, MSU didn't commit a turnover in the scrimmage. McGhee finished the scrimmage with MSU's top unit because senior Cody Kempt tweaked a knee late in the scrimmage, a moment which ended Kempt's spring. “We don't believe it's a serious injury, he'll be ready to go when our summer workouts begin, but we'll hold him out this week to make sure.”
Kempt was impressive throughout most of the scrimmage. He finished the day 5-for-9 passing for 85 yards. “I thought Cody and Denarius each played well,” Ash said.
While Ash was pleased with several individual performances, MSU's fourth-year head coach lauded his team for a tendency it has shown throughout the spring. “Typically in the spring we've seen one side of the ball have a good practice or a good scrimmage, then we'd wait for the other side to answer the next time out. This spring has had a real back-and-forth quality during each scrimmage. The offense may put together a good drive or two, then the defense answers by shutting the offense down for a time. It's something we've really needed to do, stop the bleeding or respond to a bad sequence.”
That trend hasn't been an accident. “It's happening because the guys are competing hard, and I think that's because we introduced competition into everything that we do all year,” Ash said. “We competed in the weight room all winter, we have competitions every day at practice, some fun and some serious. We've made that an emphasis, and I hope it's paying off.”
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