Football builds with spring ball, looks toward new season this fall

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Willie Brown/The Chart

Junior Xavier Graham (left) senior Gatlin Ridgway (bottom center) and sophomore Deano Casola work together to tackle junior tight end Davyn McPhaull during the Green & Gold spring game on April 13.

Taking a glance outside, some would find it hard to believe that it’s football season. The Lions’ held it’s annual Green & Gold Spring Game on Saturday, April 13 at the Fred G. Hughes Stadium.

Southern started spring football drills on March 12.

The Lions are entering the spring practice season after a fall record of 6-5.

For the spring ball game, Southern football separated into the Gold and Green teams.

The Gold team is made up of the Lions’ top offense, where as the Green consists of Southern’s top defense.

“I think spring ball answered a lot of unknown questions about the team that the players and coaches had,” said freshman quarterback Ricky Nichols. “Overall, I thought spring went very well with high intensity and effort, which really excited me for the season in the fall.”

Neither team scored in the first half of the game. The first and only touchdown in the game was in the third quarter. Sophomore quarterback Jay McDowell of the Gold team made a six-yard run for a score of 6-0.

Sophomore wide receiver Will Cuffee made two big plays to get set McDowell up for his touchdown run. The extra point attempt went wide right, unfortunately no good for the Gold team.

The Green team made a final effort to pick up a touchdown with a few nice runs from Trevnte Ebron, a junior running back. Ebron got the Green team to the four-yard line.

Then the Green team’s quarterback, Nichols, was sacked on the fourth-yard line by Ryon Phillips, a junior defensive end, to give the Gold team the ball.

“The scrimmage went really well,” said sophomore Brayden Prough. “A lot of new faces and I felt like the chemistry within the team was really good. Looking to build and improve on what we did last year.”

The Gold team defeated the Green team with a final score of 6-0.