Scrimmage yields positives

Content courtesy of WSU Athletics.

Lewiston, Ida. | Connor Halliday tossed two touchdown passes in Washington State's first scrimmage of preseason camp Sunday afternoon.

The Cougars worked through 70-plus plays in front of a couple hundred fans. The offense tallied five touchdowns in addition to a 20-yard field goal from senior Andrew Furney while the defense tallied five sacks, led my junior linebacker Ivan McClennan's two.

Halliday went 13-of-19 for 117 yards and threw touchdown passes of five yards and 34 yards while redshirt-sophomore Austin Apodaca completed 9-of-14 passes for 87 yards including a 25-yard touchdown. Freshman Tyler Bruggman made the most of his first live series of camp, going 4-for-5 for 87 yards including a 62-yard scoring strike to senior wideout Vincent Mayle. Fellow freshmen Luke Falk went 6-of-9 for 39 yards and Connor Ennis completed 4-for-6 for 21 yards.

Freshman running back Gerard Wicks made a scrimmage-high five catches while sophomore wideout Brett Bartolone totaled four catches for 40 yards including a touchdown. Freshmen wideout River Cracraft, redshirt-sophomore wideout Dominique Williams and Mayle each caught touchdowns. Freshmen running back Jamal Morrow led all rushers with three carries for 17 yards.

The offense got things going early as Apodaca led the second team offense, in the day's first series, down the field before he showed some nice touch, dropping a pass over the shoulder and into the hands of Dominique Williams in the left corner of the end zone for a 25-yard score. Halliday and the first team offense then took the field for the first time and he capped the 60-yard drive with a five-yard touchdown pass to Bartolone. The offense then worked through a red zone series and the defense held tough, as senior linebacker Justin Sagote made huge stop at the goaline to keep redshirt-sophomore running back Jeremiah Laufasa from scoring. The defense forced the offense to bring on Furney who nailed a 20-yarder.

A couple series later, Bruggman took over and turned in the highlight of the day as he found Mayle deep down the field for a 62-yard touchdown. Falk and Ennis each operated series for the Cougars before giving way to Halliday and Apodaca who each led one more series.

Apodaca's final series was capped by Laufasa's four-yard touchdown plunch and Halliday capped his day with another scoring drive, hitting Cracraft in stride in traffic who made his way to the sideline and snuck over the goalline for a 25-yard score.

WSU will have Monday off before resuming preseason practice Tuesday at 3 p.m. at Rodgers Field and Martin Stadium.