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OGDEN, Utah -- Weber State's final scrimmage of Fall camp, just over 75 minutes long, was a passing fancy. The Wildcats ran 60 plays and not one was a rush.
"We are down to just two really healthy running backs and we know what they can do," said WSU head coach Ron McBride. "We needed to solidify our passing blocking and our ability to pick up the blitzes and we did a pretty good job. I thought Ian played much better today than he did last Saturday."
It was the first scrimmage to be played on WSU's new SprinTurf outdoor practice field and seemed to improve the play on both sides of the ball.
"It's a great field," said WSU quarterback Ian Pizarro. "It's a world of difference from the grass practice surface and better than our grass in the Stadium. You get true footing and our receivers were making some nice cuts."
Pizarro ended the morning completing 15-26 passes for 168 yards and one touchdown. His backup, Shawn Woods completed his first nine passes of the scrimmage and was 11-15 for 132 yards and one touchdowns.
Brad Leggat and freshman Cameron Higgins each took a "red zone" series. Leggat was 3-5 for 25 yards and Higgins 1-4 for 14 yards.
Bryant Eteuati led all receivers with seven catches for 90 yards and make a couple of spectacular runs after making the catch.
"Eteuati is really becoming an solid and exciting player," said McBride. "Good receivers catch the ball but the really good ones get big yards after the catch and that's the type of player he is becoming."
The all-out passing attack gave the defense an opportunity to "tee off" and come after the quarterback, and they did. The defense recorded nine quarterback sacks by eight different players. Senior linebacker Andy McFadden had two sacks for a minus 14 yards. The only interception of the morning came on the second play of the first series when John Collins tipped an Ian Pizarro pass and Craig North came in for the grab.
"Our defensive backs have really made some good strides the last seven days," McBride said. "Players who were backups last year have stepped up and become leaders. We have enough speed and quickness to play more man coverage than we did last season."
The Wildcats now set their sights on the 2006 season opener on Saturday, September 2 at Colorado State. That game will kickoff at 3:05 mountain daylight time in Fort Collins, Colorado and will be broadcast of CSTV.mtn. Weber State's home opener is on Saturday, September 9 against Cal Poly. The Mustangs are ranked 6th in The Sports Network pre-season NCAA Division I-AA top 25 poll.
