April 26, 2008

BELLINGHAM, Wash. - Western Washington University quarterback Adam Perry (Sr., Longview/R.A. Long) completed 17-of-23 passes for 197 yards and two touchdowns as the Vikings ran 116 plays in the second controlled scrimmage of the spring Saturday at Civic Stadium.

"Offensively, we eliminated the false starts and the procedural penalties and put some drives together," said Western head coach Robin Ross. "We still have some things that we need to clean up, but it was much better."

The Vikings were called for 11 penalties, eight on the offense, which had just one turnover on a fumble.

Western's offense opened the situational scrimmage with back-to-back 80-yard scoring drives. Perry, who was the Vikings' starter last fall, finished the first with an 18-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Pat McCann (Sr., Olympia) and Chris Bolt (R-Fr., Lynden) completed the second with an 18-yard scoring toss to tight end Zach Hekker (Jr., Bothell/Weber State).

Bolt connected on 11-of-21 passes for 129 yards and two touchdowns.

McCann led all receivers with seven catches for 113 yards and a touchdown. Dirk Dallas (R-Fr., Lynden) had five grabs for 90 yards, Travis McKee (Sr., Bothell) four for 54 and Hekker four for 52.

"Offensively, I think we have some real weapons," Ross said. "We've got five senior offensive linemen, we've got five solid wide receivers, and three solid tight ends, so it's starting to come together."

Transfer running back Randall Eldridge (Jr., Lynnwood/Chabot Junior College), who had 142 rushing yards and scored four touchdowns in the first scrimmage last Saturday, ran for 78 yards and two touchdowns on 19 carries. Kevin Sampson (R-Fr., Seattle/Rainier Beach) had 51 yards on 11 carries and a touchdown.

"We have two very good running backs, which should help us defensively," said Ross. "We still have a lot of things to work on there. We didn't get as many stops as we need to on defense."

Western ends its spring practice with the annual Blue-Silver Game on Saturday (12 noon) at Civic Stadium.

WWU FOOTBALL: Perry makes strides in spring scrimmage

JOE SUNNEN, THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

Last season, Adam Perry's shortened introduction to Western Washington's newly implemented offense felt at times like cramming a year's worth of learning into one all-night study session.

After almost a full year worth of working in the Vikings' complex system, the senior quarterback is starting to get comfortable. It showed on Saturday during WWU's second intrasquad scrimmage of the spring at Civic Stadium.

"I felt real confident with the offense today," Perry said. "We've made great strides since the fall when you compare it to where we are now. The offense got put in so fast during the fall that we really didn't know what we were doing. In the offseason they did a good job of really teaching us the offense. Now we understand it better."

Perry finished 17 for 23 for 197 yards and two touchdowns during another strong outing by the Vikings' offense. Perry directed the first group on an 8- play, 80-yard drive to start the scrimmage, connecting with Pat McCann for an 18-yard touchdown. He tossed another score to Travis McKee later in the practice.

"We were able to clean up a lot of things we did wrong last week," Perry said. "We still had a couple of fumbles and some penalties, but we made some big strides. We improved on a lot of things just from last weekend to this weekend."

Western is still struggling defensively with an injury depleted linebacking corps and inexperience along the defensive line, but looked strong against the Vikings' two-minute offense and frequently pressured the quarterback.

Heading into Saturday's Blue-Silver Game, Western also stayed relatively healthy.

"The offense did pretty well," WWU coach Robin Ross said. "Defensively, we're beat up and we're young. We got a couple of stops out there in the second half, but we're still looking for that combination on the defensive line and at linebacker. We're close in the secondary, but we're still a step away at times."

Quarterback Chris Bolt continued his steady improvement, completing 11 passes for 129 yards and two touchdowns. McCann caught seven passes for 113 yards and Dirk Dallas had five catches for 90 yards.

"We're a lot more mature on the offensive side," Ross said. "We have five senior offensive lineman, a senior tight end, really pretty much the whole offense back, and then two good running backs. Offensively, we should be markedly improved based on what I'm seeing."

The Blue-Silver game starts at noon at Civic Stadium. The Vikings are asking that fans bring one canned food item as admission. All of the food collected will be donated to the Bellingham Food Bank.