BOZEMAN — Three quarterbacks accounted for touchdowns while Montana State’s defense held the offense’s running backs to three yards per carry in the team’s second scrimmage of the spring on Saturday in Bobcat Stadium.
Sophomore Chance Wilson rushed for one touchdown and thew for another, while sophomore Patrick Duchien threw a pair of touchdown passes. Freshman River Warren also tossed a scoring pass.
“I thought we moved the ball well enough, and I thought both (returning) quarterbacks made some plays,” said Bobcat head coach Brent Vigen. “Chance and Patrick both made some plays with their feet. We continue to have a number of guys on the other end of the passes make plays, so that's good.”
Tight ends Hunter Provience and Rocky Lencioni caught touchdown passes, and Rylan Schlepp and Luke Smith also had catches.
“I think we're going to be able to spread the ball around to a lot of ball catchers, whether that’s receivers or tight ends,” Vigen said.
Quarterbacks were live during the first half or so of the scrimmage’s 80-plus plays. While Wilson and Duchien broke off several long runs during that segment, including Wilson’s 59-yard touchdown, the MSU defense forced a turnover and generally bottled up the ground game.
“Defensively we did have a number of three-and-outs,” Vigen said, “but when we (tackles) live we didn’t account for the quarterbacks very well. Neil Daily had a big interception and we turned the offense over on downs a couple of times. There were some sacks when the quarterbacks weren’t live, but when they were we didn’t always finish plays. We do have athletic quarterbacks, but that’s all part of it.”
Montana State wraps up spring drills with two practices this week and next Saturday’s Sonny Holland Classic at 1 p.m. in Bobcat Stadium.
