Purdue football spring game recap
Purdue football conducted its first spring game under head coach Ryan Walters on Saturday afternoon, with Team Hammer Down defeating Team Boiler Up 17-13 in Ross-Ade Stadium.
The first team offense got off to a hot start to kick things off, as Hudson Card found Jaron Tibbs for a 13 yard gain to move the starters near midfield. After a pair of incompletions, Card connected with a wide open Andrew Sowinski for a 58-yard touchdown on a breakdown in coverage to open up the scoring and giving Team Boiler Up a 7-0 advantage.
Marcos Davila lead the second team offense onto the field on their first possession, which was stifled by Yanni Karlaftis getting into the backfield twice, one resulting in a sack for the junior linebacker. Team Hammer Down would be forced to punt.
After trading turnover on downs (plus NCAA average 43 yard punts), the Boiler Up offense took over at their own 48 yard line and put together another scoring drive. Card got things started by finding Jayden Dixon-Veal for a pickup of 17 yards. Kydran Jenkins forced a team sack on the following play before Card picked up 11 yards on the ground to get Purdue back in field goal range.
Ben Freehill connected on the first of his three field goals in the first half, sinking a 45 yarder to give Team Boiler Upload a 10-0 lead in the first quarter of play.
The first team offense had another strong drive after both teams traded punts once again. Card led a nine-play drive down inside the Hammer Down red zone behind connections with Max Klare and Jaron Tibbs. That led to Freehill's second field goal of the day, a 30 yard connection to give Boiler Up a 13-0 lead.
The second team offense then found its first taste of success on the following drive, with Marcos Davila finding fellow true freshman Tra'Mar Harris for a 51 yard strike to move the Boilermakers into the opposite site of the field. That drive stalled out, however, with Freehill switching teams and hitting another 30 yard field goal. That made it a 13-3 deficit for Team Hammer Down.
Hudson Card threw for 160 yards and the aforementioned 58 yard touchdown in the first half, which showed Ryan Walters enough as the Boilermakers' starting quarterback played just one series in the second half before calling it a day.
After a strong offensive showing in the first half, the defense began putting things together in the third quarter. All possession with the exception of one resulted in a simulated punt, that lone anomaly was a Will Heldt pick-six in the third quarter. The sophomore rush end, who started for the first team defense, dropped into coverage and intercepted a Marcos Davila attempt, resulting in a score for Team Hammer Down.
Ryan Browne suffered a similar fate early in the fourth quarter, overthrowing Ben Furtney near midfield and sophomore cornerback Derrick Rogers Jr. was there to scoop up another interception for the defense.
The game wrapped off with a short touchdown pass from the six yard line on fourth down from Jake Wilson to Ryne Sheckleford to give Team Hammer Down a 17-13