Texas Tech capped off its spring season Saturday with the annual Spring Game, this time at Lowrey Field at PlainsCapital Park. In a shortened scrimmage that featured three takeaways, Team Fearless came away with the victory, defeating Team Red Raiders, 19-15, as part of the two-team format.
"I was proud of both sides of the ball," said head coach Joey McGuire. "You got to remember I am a defensive head coach, and those turnovers were really nice. Offensively, I don't want to do that against anybody else, but it was good to see the defense."
Defensive back C.J. Baskerville, linebacker Ty Kana and defensive back Dadrion Taylor-Demerson each had interceptions over the first three quarters, which featured a running clock the entire first half and then a red zone period after halftime. McGuire played many of its younger members of the roster during the fourth quarter when the two teams were no longer divided and was instead just offense versus defense.
The offense had one of its biggest plays of the afternoon via a 57-yard touchdown pass from Behren Morton to Loic Fouonji. It was a simple go route by Fouonji down the left side to get behind the defense then a beautifully thrown ball by Morton to give the offense its first touchdown of the day.
Morton finished 12-of-20 for 143 yards through the air and the lone passing touchdown to lead the quarterback room. Tyler Shough was 10-of-23 overall for 70 yards, while true freshman Jake Strong was accurate, completely 7-of-12 passes for 69 yards in the fourth quarter.
Two different Red Raider running backs found their way into the end zone as well during the red zone period as Cam'Ron Valdez found paydirt from five yards out, while Tahj Brooks closed the period with a two-yard touchdown run. Clazarion Campbell added to the scoring in the fourth quarter via a nine-yard touchdown run.
Brooks had a strong day with a total of 74 rushing yards on 15 carries, averaging 4.9 yards per carry behind a new-look offensive line that featured newcomers Rusty Staats at center and Cole Spencer at left guard. Valdez added 27 yards on the ground via nine carries.
"I think Tahj can have a great year," said McGuire. "You're going to see a guy that is in phenomenal shape."
As McGuire has hinted to all spring, fans got to see an active defensive line that managed to sack the quarterback four times on the day. Myles Cole led the defense with two sacks from his new edge rusher spot as an outside linebacker. Fellow newcomer Steve Linton added a sack of his own as did L.B. Moore later in the fourth quarter.
Similar to its performance during the 2022 season, the defense did a solid job getting off the field and forcing field goals as Gino Garcia was called on to find the uprights three times overall. Garcia, who redshrted the 2022 season, battled bristly conditions to drill a 50-yard attempt in the first quarter and then 46 and 23 yarders in the third quarter. Fellow kicker Stone Harrington had a successful 30-yard field goal in the second quarter and then a 38-yarder as part of the red zone period.
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