EDMOND (Aug. 16) – Central Oklahoma made positive strides during its final major intrasquad scrimmage of the preseason Saturday night at Wantland Stadium as the Bronchos continue preparing for their Aug. 30 opener.
Five quarterbacks combined to complete 42-of-70 passes for 320 yards and a pair of touchdowns, while the defense came up with five turnovers and also turned back a couple of promising drives in the hard-hitting 95-play scrimmage that took nearly an hour and a half.
“I was encouraged with what I saw on both sides of the ball,” UCO head coach Tracy Holland said. “We definitely made some improvement offensively from Monday’s scrimmage and our defense came up with some big plays in forcing turnovers.
“We’re making good progress and the players are working hard. We’ll get into our regular practice routine next week and start getting ready for that first game.”
Alex Gibson, Brandon Noohi and Colin Clancy saw the bulk of action at quarterback, taking turns running the first- and second-team offenses. Gibson hit 21-of-31 passes for 156 yards, while Clancy was 10-of-16 for 74 yards and Noohi 7-of-11 for 58 yards.
Gibson had a 38-yard touchdown toss to Ryan Gallimore and Clancy a four-yard score to David Cooper for the only two offensive touchdowns of the night.
The defense scored on a long interception return by Cordarrow Milton, while Tyral Kearney, Anthony Anderson and Joey Fallon also picked off passes. Jermelle Cudjo was a dominating force on defense, with Caleb Prince and Mike Reed providing a pair of hard-hitting tackles and Matt Gates a fumble recovery.
The Bronchos open the season Aug. 30 against No. 17-ranked Pittsburg State, with a 6 p.m. kickoff at Wantland Stadium. UCO will honor the 1998 Lone Star Conference championship team during that contest.