The weather was perfect for a Sunday afternoon annual spring game. Close to 4,000 North Texas fans showed up to get a look at the quarterback duel going on between senior Nathan Tune and sophomore Derek Thompson and they were not disappointed. They were not disappointed in the duel for running back backup role between junior running back James Hamilton and early high school graduate Brandin Byrd.

Thompson opened the game with seven straight completions for 113 yards and a touchdown. He ended up with 234 passing yards, completing 14 of 24 passes and a touchdown.

Tune was the one to ring up the win hitting 11 of 19 passes for 182 yards and one touchdown taking the North to a 17-14 win.

The defense has a lot of contested positions and some junior college transfers are putting their names in the ring. The announcer kept saying junior college transfer Forlando Johnson name on several stops. Another junior college name used on some big plays was Ryan Downing. J.C. transfer Sean January’s stick on a play sounded almost as loud on the cannon going off.

Not to say there wasn’t enough name calling of Ira Smith, A.J. Penson, Jeremy Phillips, D’Leon McCord, Robbie Gordon or Chris Neal. There is a lot of competition going on in the secondary and the new guys are pushing the heck out of the veterans. By virtue of the competition this unit has gotten better.  

The South had to overcome an early 14-3 lead by the North win 17-14. The South took an early 3-0 lead but it started to look like it was going to be a North blowout as they moved the ball downfield at will to score two quick touchdowns. After some “halftime adjustments” the South was able to move on the North defense to put two scores on the board for the final 17-14 score.

The South started the scoring when Nathan Tune hit Darius Carey out in the right flat and with a beautiful fake got past the defender for a good gainer. Lance Dunbar followed with a solid gainer after breaking several tackles. The South was in position to score but a touchdown pass was dropped by B.J. Lewis and Phillips deflected a Tune pass to keep the South out of the end zone. Trent Deans put the ball between the uprights to give the South the early 3-0 lead.

The North brought in Derek Thompson at quarterback with James Hamilton at running back. Their score was highlighted by several plays including Breece Johnson with a great seven yard catch. There was a long catch and run by Alex Lott which appeared to be a touchdown but he was ruled out at the two yard line. Hamilton then took the ball in to give the North a 7-3 lead.

The North defense started to show signs of life as they sacked Tune on the South’s next possession and forced a three and out.

The second quarter the North added another score which was highlighted by several plays. Thompson hit Carey on a 29 yard gainer then Bennie Jones had a nice 39 yard catch to the 12 yard line Thompson hit Jackson on a twelve yard touchdown catch to make the score 14-3.

The next series highlights included the North defense with another sack of Tune. He then hit Tyler Stradford for a good gain. Neal had a nice stop on the running play to bring up a second and five followed by Phillips breaking up a pass play to give the ball back to the North.

The South defense started to show signs of life on the next series of plays finally stopping the North drive to get the ball back. The North had a good running gain as a result of a nice block downfield by Nick Leppo. Then Robbie Gordon of the defense had a great pass knockdown. The offense was still able to get a first down as a result of an Austin Fitzpatrick catch. Brandin Byrd had a six yard gainer before Thompson hit Riley Dodge for a first down which drew a lot of applause from the fans. Byrd ran for another eight yards. The defense then tightened up when John Weber got a sack on Thompson and the defense got a pass breakup to Desmond Brigham. The series ended when B.J. Lewis was unable to handle the bullet thrown by Thompson and it bounced off his hands which would have been a first down. The ball went over to the South.

The North defense bowed up and started the series with a sack of Tune. Ira Smith had a pass breakup along with Hilbert Jackson on another so the ball went back to the North.

Willie Taylor on the next series had a five yard gain. Julian Herron supplied the pressure on Thompson causing an incomplete pass. A long pass to Dodge was incomplete so the ball went over to the North.

A Tune to Jones pass netted 18 yards with Neal on the tackle. Phillips was responsible for a fumble on a catch by Lewis which was recovered by Robertson.

Thompson started the South drive by hitting Breece Johnson and the ball ended up at the six yard line for a first down. The South defense arose to the challenge and kept Micah Moseley out of the endzone on three straight tries. A field goal attempt was no good.

The Tune to Carey connection saw a great run by the wide receiver which included him breaking several tackles. Shavod Atkinson and the rest of the defense line applied pressure to keep Tune off balance. As a result the South’s only other highlight was a 49 yard pass play to Stradford. It was halftime after a couple more plays.

The third quarter opened up with Smith taking the kickoff to the 26 yard line. Chase Baine opened up at quarterback. Sean January had a nice stick on the ball carrier and the defense held forcing the ball back to the South.

The North defense held with a lot of pressure causing three incomplete passes to force the South to give them the ball back.

The North with Thompson at the helm saw Dunbar run for six yards before the defense toughened up. Smith dropped Carey for a two yard loss. Dunbar on 3^rd and six was stopped by Atkinson and a sack gave the ball back to the South.

Tune then hit Stradford on a 75 yard strike for a touchdown and the South took a 14-10 lead.

On the next series of plays, there was a great gang tackle by the North but being a little too aggressive ended up in a 15 yard penalty. Smith was again active stopping Jeremi Mathis after gaining seven yards. D’Leon McCord deflected a pass and a bad dump pass to Mathis gave the ball back to the North.

The North then put together a nice drive for a score.  Byrd was the star of the drive with several outstanding power runs breaking tackles and powered the ball in after Tune was called down at the two yard line when he was forced to run the ball because there wasn’t a defender open.  The result was the North 17 South 14.

There were no more scores after this point but there were some nice plays. Thompson on the next series of plays started to receive pressure from the North unit. The result was the offense seemed to start to unravel. The highlights of the drive were Hamilton dropping a catchable pass. Stradford had a nice catch and run to the opponent’s 38 yard line. Thompson was forced to throw a ball out of bounds and was then sacked by Phillips. DaWaylon Cook had a nice stop on the running back and a pass off Johnson’s hands gave the ball back to the North.

Matt Ponce came in at running back for the North with Baines at QB. After a three and out the South took over.

Moseley ran the ball during the series and JC Forlando Johnson was the first to stop him after a four yard gain. On his third carry he was brought down by Jamal Wilson. He carried the ball out to the fifty yard line to bring up a 3 and 2 but was unsuccessful to get the first down because JC transfer Ryan Downing dropped him for a two yard loss and the ball went back to the North.

Baines was back in at QB for the North where he started out throwing the ball away after some pressure. Robbie Gordon was in on several of the pressures and tackles. A nice pass completion down to the ten yard line was called back because of holding. They were unable to get a first down so the ball went over to the South.

It looked like the South was going to go in for another score when Taylor took his pass to the 45 yard line. A pass went off Dodge’s hands, Jones pitch and catch went to the 34 yard line where Fitzpatrick was on the stop. A pass to Dodge was called interference then the North got an interception.

The game ran out when Baine got to the forty-one yard line.