Point ends fall camp with scrimmage

Published 8:41 pm Monday, August 21, 2023

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Fall camp has wrapped up for Point University’s football team. On Saturday, the Skyhawks faced Columbus State University in a scrimmage to bring an end to fall camp. 

The score was not kept, but if it was, Point would have won the matchup 26-20.Several players stepped up, and made their presence known in the scrimmage. 

Mitchell Gossett was the first quarterback to take the field on Saturday. Gossett led the Skyhawks to a 70 yard drive. The drive was capped off by Gossett’s quarterback sneak into the endzone. 

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Austin Adcock stepped in at quarterback to lead Point’s second drive. Adcock impressed with his crisp passing in the scrimmage. Trey Turner finished the drive off with a rushing touchdown to put Point up 12-0. 

Payton Allen came in to replace Adcock. Allen had his struggles early on. The first drive led by Allen resulted in a three and out. In the second drive, Allen threw an interception that was returned 85-yards for a touchdown. 

Allen steadied after the interception, and led the Skyhawks down the field to score before halftime. At the half, Point led 19-7. 

After fall camp and the day that each quarterback had, the competition was settled. Currently, Adcock and Gossett have set themselves above the rest of the pack.

“They’re the two that are ahead of everybody else,” Head Coach Trevor Zeiders said. “Payton’s close, but I think a little bit behind those other two.”

Point’s defense struggled with missed tackles in the second half. The Skyhawks allowed two passing touchdowns of over 50-yards. Both touchdowns were set up by missed tackles. 

“There’s a lot of little things we’ve got to clean up,” Zeiders said. “We’ve got to tackle a lot better. I don’t think we tackled well at all considering what we have. We’re gonna have to tackle in space this week. That’s something we’re gonna have to work on.” 

After the two long touchdown passes, Columbus State led Point 20-19. The Skyhawks answered back as Samir Wylie found Wesley Jones for a long touchdown pass. Jones was simply able to out jump the defensive back to give Point the 26-20 lead. Afterwards, the Skyhawks’ defense held Columbus State scoreless for the remainder of the game. 

“It’s always positive to finish off camp on a positive note,” Zeiders said. “We were pretty pleased with some of the things we saw.” 

Point’s defense forced one turnover on an interception by Reggie Hill. The Skyhawks turned the ball over twice on offense. One on Allen’s first half interception, and the second on Johnny Crowe’s second half interception. 

Jones’ catch in the fourth quarter was just one of many big plays made by Point’s wide receivers in the scrimmage. 

“It’s definitely nice to have some height,” Zeiders said. “It gives you an extra dimension that some people aren’t going to be able to handle as well, and they’re gonna struggle with it a little bit. We’ve got some guys that I’m very excited to see what they’re going to be able to do. Wesley Jones, that catch down there in the end zone, holy cow. You don’t see that every day.” 

Zeiders said that several of their best receivers did not even play in the scrimmage. Those guys mixed in with Saturday’s group should make the wideout group one of the more dynamic positions on the team. 

The wideouts made most of the highlight reel plays in the scrimmage, but Point’s rushing attack led the offense. 

Even though Trey Turner only had one rushing touchdown, he impacted the entire game. Most of Point’s touchdowns were set up by established drives due to the ground game. 

“I thought they did a very nice job,” Zeiders said. 

Up next for Point is their season opener at home against Bethel. After the scrimmage on Saturday, Zeiders and the team began breaking down game film. 

Zeiders believes Bethel will pose some different challenges than Columbus State. Bethel will have more size on the line of scrimmage, and Point’s line will have to come ready for that challenge. 

In the matchup last season, Point shutout Bethel in the first half and led by three. Point was outscored by 28 points in the second half.
“We’ve gotta be able to move the ball better than we did last year,” Zeiders said. “We’ve gotta be able to be consistent in that.”