Northwestern University Athletics
Scrimmage Is a Success for Football
8/25/2001 12:00:00 AM | Football
Aug. 25, 2001
KENOSHA, Wis. - The offense scored three touchdowns on the day, but the defense more than held its own at Saturday's football scrimmage. The intrasquad event took place at UW-Parkside, the home of 'Camp Kenosha.'
The offense seemed to pick up where it left off last season. On just the second play from scrimmage, Jason Wright took the ball on a double-reverse and took it around the right side for a 66-yard touchdown.
The D stiffened after that, though, holding up its end of the bargain and pleasing head coach Randy Walker. Zak Kustok, who played just two series on the day, threw an 8-yard touchdown to Jon Schweighardt on a slant play, and later freshman QB Brett Basanez found Ashton Aikens for a 16-yard score.
Backup running back Kevin Lawrence looked strong, with five rushes for 25 yards and returning a kickoff 99 yards for a score. Aiken ran 13 times for 26 yards. Among the quarterbacks looking to back up Kustok, Tony Stauss was 13-of-19 passing for 110 yards while Matt Danielson was 1-of-6 for -4 yards. Both threw an interception. Basanez was 2-of-4 for 30 yards.
Among the receivers, Schweighardt caught five passes for 35 yards, while Jovan Witherspoon had four catches for 61 yards.
Several of the veteran players did not participate in the scrimmage, among them running back Damien Anderson and wide receiver Sam Simmons on offense and linebacker Billy Silva on defense.
"I expect some of these guys to play well," said Walker afterward. "I'm looking for some of the next-level guys to step up and have an impact. As I told them immediately after the scrimmage, it takes more than 11 to win in this game."
"In some cases today, I saw some really good things. In other cases, I don't know," he continued. "It was kind of a mixed bag today--I wasn't real pleased, nor was I really concerned. But we have some work ahead of us in the next couple of weeks."
