After the offense scored multiple times in the first half of Saturday’s scrimmage, the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff defense pitched a second-half shutout.
UAPB held its second scrimmage of spring football practice on a cloudy morning at Simmons Bank Field just before the afternoon storms arrived. Head coach Alonzo Hampton said it was a good scrimmage for both sides.
“I would say it’s a pretty balanced day,” Hampton said. “You like what you saw in the first half with the offense. The tempo was good. We’re snapping it (with) about 20, 25 seconds (on the play clock). Defense had a couple alignment errors just because of the tempo, but then they were able to bounce back.”
UAPB is down to two quarterbacks in the spring after Freddie Davis entered the transfer portal earlier in the week, but both incumbent Mekhi Hagens and junior college transfer DJ Stevenson threw early touchdown passes. Hagens nearly had another on a deep shot, but he was touched by a defender just before throwing the ball. With the quarterbacks wearing red noncontact jerseys, that counted as a sack.
Stevenson then led a field goal drive to end the first half.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
The second half began with five possessions starting at the defense’s 25-yard line. The defense stopped the offense on all five.
Hampton said the second-half shutout was special for the defense, but the offense needs to be able to keep its success going after a good start.
“We got to find a way to keep that momentum going,” Hampton said. “Like, they were excited. The quarterbacks were talking. The (offensive) line was fired up, but you got the ball on the plus 25, now you gotta have a mentality that we’re going to score touchdowns, not field goals.”
The first drive ended in a missed 30-yard field goal. The second ended with punter Jeremy Baker kicking the ball inside the 10-yard line on back-to-back punts.
After another missed field goal, the fourth possession ended with a sack on fourth down. On the final red zone drive, safety Quintin Sterling intercepted a Hagens pass in the end zone and returned it roughly 25 yards.
Defensive coordinator David Calloway said after the defense faded late in the first scrimmage, it was good to see it finish strong this time.
“That’s how it’s going to be on game day,” Calloway said. “It’s going to be ebbs and flows. It’s going to be peaks and valleys in momentum. We just gotta keep playing the next play. Keep playing the next play, make them snap it again, and we’ll see where it’s at when the clock hits zero.”
After the red zone possessions, the scrimmage finished with three two-minute drills starting from the offense’s 45-yard line. Stevenson led the offense to the 10-yard line on the first but was sacked on third down and intercepted on fourth.
Hagens took the next possession and went three and out. Stevenson picked up one first down on the final drive but was sacked on the next play. He ultimately completed a 12-yard pass on fourth down, but the defense made the tackle one yard short of the line to gain to end the scrimmage.
Sterling, a transfer from Jones College from Ellisville, Mississippi, had two pass breakups in the second half to go with his end zone interception. Calloway said Sterling is matching the coaches’ expectations.
“He’s a solid kid, dependable,” Calloway said. “Going to be where he’s supposed to be. Going to be in the right position. He’s still learning what we’re doing defensively. He just got here this semester, but that’s what we expect from (what) we saw on tape when we got with him in the recruiting process.”
UAPB will practice two more times before concluding spring practice with the Black and Gold Game at 2 p.m. on April 27.