Maroon Captures 26-21 Win in Annual Jay McGillis Memorial Spring Game

Photo by: John Quackenbos

Maroon Captures 26-21 Win in Annual Jay McGillis Memorial Spring Game

April 14, 2018 | Football

Dennis Grosel hit John Fadule with a 2-yard TD as time expired for the win

By: Athletic Communications

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – Redshirt freshman quarterback Dennis Grosel connected with senior running back John Fadule on a two-yard touchdown reception as time expired to give the Maroon team a 26-21 win over the White in the annual Jay McGillis Memorial Spring Game.

Fadule, who moved to running back from quarterback during spring drills for Boston College, finished the day with four receptions for 21 yards, including the game-winning touchdown reception.

Boston College rested several of its starters on both sides of the ball as the first-team offense (White) went up against the second-team defense (Maroon) and the second-team offense (Maroon) faced the first-team defense (White).

"We're ahead of where we've been," Boston College head coach Steve Addazio said after the annual spring game. "We moved the ball around pretty well today. It was probably both sides of the ball, it might have been 13 guys, we held back and we still kind of, for spring football out here, moved the ball around fairly effectively. I think that tells you in itself where we are. We have more depth and more skill players, so we could accommodate not playing any of those guys, whereas before, it would be really difficult for us."

The day started off with a bang for the defense as the Maroon forced an interception on the third play as redshirt freshman defensive back Jahmin Muse stepped in front of a pass from sophomore quarterback EJ Perry. After a 22-yard interception return by Muse to setup the Maroon team with 1-10 at the 12, junior running back Andrew Strader scooted in from 12 yards out for the game's first touchdown. Senior Colten Lichtenberg missed the extra point as the Maroon led 6-0.

On the ensuing drive, the White drove down the field, capped off with an eight-yard touchdown pass from Perry to sophomore wide receiver Kobay White to give the White a 7-6 advantage.

Redshirt freshman Matt McDonald directed his first scoring drive of the day for the Maroon as the back-and-forth first quarter continued. The California native found redshirt freshman wide receiver Noah Jordan-Williams on a nine-yard touchdown pass on third and goal to extend the Maroon lead to 13-7.

Each side scored a touchdown in the second quarter as sophomore running back Travis Levy ran for a six-yard touchdown to give the White a 14-13 lead. The Maroon answered before halftime with the play of the day as senior wide receiver Elijah Robinson went up the ladder to haul in a 44-yard touchdown pass from McDonald to give Maroon a 20-14 halftime advantage.

McDonald, who has been running with the second-team offense the majority of the spring, was sharp as he finished the afternoon 10-of-13 passing for 129 yards and three touchdowns.

White hauled in his second touchdown reception of the game in the third quarter – as McDonald engineered the drive with the first-team offense – to give the White a 21-20 lead.

The game's only touchdown in the fourth quarter came with no time remaining. Grosel found Fadule on a two-yard pass as the game ended with the Maroon securing the 26-21 win.

Prior to the game, senior defensive back Lukas Denis was named the recipient of the Jay McGillis Memorial Scholarship. McGillis' family was on hand before the game to present Denis with the award along with the previous two recipients, Isaac Yiadom and John Johnson.

The award is given annually since 1993 to a Boston College defensive back who best exemplifies the personal qualities of team dedication and leadership by example, an extraordinary competitive spirit, and personal concern for family friends and teammates. McGillis, a starting defensive back for Boston College, passed away from Leukemia in 1992. The Eagles' spring game is played in his honor each year.

Scoring by Quarter
                        1          2          3          4          Final
White               7          7          7          0          21
Maroon 13        7          0          6          26

First Quarter
Maroon - Andrew Strader 12-yard run (PAT no good)
White – Kobay White 8-yard pass from EJ Perry (Lichtenberg PAT)
Maroon –Noah Jordan-Williams 9-yard pass from Matt McDonald (Lichtenberg PAT)

Second Quarter
White – Travis Levy 6-yard run (Lichtenberg PAT)
Maroon – Elijah Robinson 44-yard pass from McDonald (Lichtenberg PAT)

Third Quarter
White – White 4-yard pass from McDonald (Lichtenberg PAT)

Fourth Quarter
Maroon – John Fadule 2-yard pass from Dennis Grosel

Individual Statistics
Passing (White)
EJ Perry 10-20-INT-141 yards, 2 TD

Receiving (White)
Kobay White 3-19, 2 TD
Noah Jordan-Williams 3-33
Mike Walker 3-67
Jeff Smith 1-14
Travis Levy 1-4
Elijah Robinson 1-4

Rushing (White)
Ben Glines 9-28
Travis Levy 10-19
EJ Perry 3 (-5)

Passing (Maroon)
Matt McDonald 10-13,129 yards, 3 TD
Dennis Grosel 8-11, 69 yards, TD

Rushing (Maroon)
Andrew Strader 2-11, TD
Matt McDonald 1 (-7)

Receiving (Maroon)
Andrew Strader 2-30
Noah Jordan-Williams 3-21, TD
Colton Cardinal 5-40
Elijah Robinson 2-48, TD
John Fadule 4-21, TD
CJ Lewis 3-35
Korab Idrizi 1-15

Defensive Leaders
Tate Haynes (10 tackles)
Nolan Borgersen (6 tackles)
Davon Jones (7 tackles)
Bryce Morais (1 sack)
Marcus Valdez (1 sack)
Jahmin Muse (22-yard interception return)
Curt Bletzer (fumble recovery)

Post-Game Quotes
Head Coach Steve Addazio, Quarterback EJ Perry, Defensive Back Lukas Denis

Q. Really increased the pace of play last year it seemed like. Is that a trend that's going to continue based on what we saw from the young guys?
COACH STEVE ADDAZIO: Yeah, absolutely. That's what we do, and you know, actually today, we're kind of summoning a lot of guys -- we're actually a little slower than we probably normally would be. Yeah, pace of play and you know, we had a chance to rotate around a little bit and we wanted to do that a little bit, too. That's what we got done.

Q. What did you take away from the play --
COACH STEVE ADDAZIO: Both of them (quarterbacks) had some really good plays. They both did. It was nice to see and that's the way it's been all spring. They are young guys. They make some really great-looking plays. Sometimes they ride the roller coaster a little bit but they had a great spring and they got all those reps, so it really was great for them. They really grew and they developed, which was really nice to see, both of them. We're really encouraged about it.

We threw more with Matt (McDonald) because we didn't have any backs there. We held AJ (Dillon) out and we kept Ben (Glines) and Travis (Levy) on one side. But other than that, no. I mean, they both really made some very, very nice plays. They both threw a couple of really nice deep balls. They both got the ball around a little bit. I was pleased with that.

There's different playmakers in there for them, too. We didn't have all the guys on the field today obviously, and they are used to it all spring long with a little chemistry there, and some of that wasn't present and we held them out but that was fine. We wanted most of the younger guys to get most of the reps.

Q. What did you see from Elijah?
COACH STEVE ADDAZIO: Elijah had a great spring. Really performed well. Really was one of those guys that actually took it up a notch. We were pleased. And those are two examples of two great balls, one by Matt, one by EJ (Perry). Those were two nice deep balls, right on the money, both throws. That's really good to see. You can see the potential in those guys and that's why you're in a foot race to experience and even them out a little bit.

Q. Ben Petrula at right tackle?
COACH STEVE ADDAZIO: Yeah, we spent some real time with him in spring. He's a natural right tackle, so that was really good to see. I was really pleased with his spring progress, as well. I liked Alec Lindstrom's progress at center. I thought he really took a step forward.

We held Chris (Lindstrom) out today and stuff, limited Sam's (Schmal) reps. But all in all, I thought it was very, very -- one of the best springs we've had, so I was really pleased with that.

Q. What does Alec currently weigh?
COACH STEVE ADDAZIO: 280-something right now. Hopefully we can get him to 290 before the start of the season, I hope. Just like his brother, same pace. Same schedule.

Q. How does the versatility of the offensive line help if you're running that fast-paced, spread attack?
COACH STEVE ADDAZIO: It will help us moving forward. We will get Elijah Johnson back; we'll get Jon Baker back. Really increase our depth up there. We'll have eight -- you know, eight guys, nine guys, that we can play with. We need them though, you know. In this conference, it's just hard to go through unscathed. Even if it's not just a rotational deal, you just have injuries that will force you into that, so you've got to get these guys ready to go.

We've got experience and depth now. I feel confident.

Q. Early you had EJ out of the shotgun to start the game, but after that interception, he stayed under center for most of the game.
COACH STEVE ADDAZIO: That had nothing to do it. On the interception, I felt bad. We had Jahmin (Muse) a white jersey with the mesh thing and he didn't see him but there's nothing we could do. We were trying to rotate jerseys fast out here with a couple guys because of depth. That was nothing to do with nothing and we were going to be in and out of shotgun and under center on a regular basis this year. More so than we were a year ago. A year ago, we were really throwing the ball out of the shotgun but now we are going to run and throw it out of both.

Q. A lot of passing.
COACH STEVE ADDAZIO: We did last year a lot of that, sprint out. We're going to keep things on the move. That's our philosophy, and keeping the field moving.

Q. Overall how would you describe this spring?
COACH STEVE ADDAZIO: We're ahead of where we've been. We moved the ball around pretty well today and it was probably both sides of the ball, it might have been 13 guys and we still kind of, for spring football out here, kind of moving the ball around fairly effectively, honestly. I think that tells you in itself where we are. We have more depth and more skill players, so we could accommodate not playing any of those guys, whereas before, it would be really difficult for us, really hard.

Q. It seems like you guys are, you're increasing the spread, how does that make you feel --
EJ Perry: Yeah, definitely an emphasis from Coach to speed up the pace of play and use that to our advantage. You know, it was fun today to get to do that. I did that in high school, so it's a little bit -- but all the stuff we do is great stuff. Coach is amazing with the offense.

Q. That first shot, Steve actually said -- do you feel like you got in a rhythm after that? Seemed like you were more comfortable in that series.
EJ Perry: Definitely, the first drive, I throw that out. I mean, that was a tough one. You live and you learn, right.

After that, it was good to just get the ball around, get it to our playmakers.

Q. Did you see on that play, the duck pass?
EJ Perry: Oh, yeah. So Elijah has been making plays all spring, especially deep. He's big on letting a receiver go up and get it. He saw one down in the left corner where he jumped over the guy, so I knew I had a match up one-on-one. I tried to hold the safety as much as I could but Eli just made a great play.

Q. On that, you must have a lot of confidence in your receivers to make plays like that. How has that developed this spring? Is that new?
EJ Perry: Definitely since I first got here, the amount of improvement we have at that position is unbelievable. Jeff, Kobay, Mike, Elijah, they have all been making plays, especially this spring as a unit, they have really stepped up. They rarely dropped the ball in spring and they were making plays, so they are definitely a big improvement this spring and it was fun to watch. It was fun to get the ball to them.

Q. How is it working with Matt? Do you feel like it's a competition aspect where you're pushing each other on the practice field?
EJ Perry: Yeah, everything's a competition. It's really fun. Matt's a great kid and good friend of mine. You know, we talk and we learn from each other and it was fun to come out here and both play well today.

Q. What's the experience been like getting so many reps?
EJ Perry: Yeah, for my improvement and Matt's, and Dennis's. It's helped us tenfold to come out here and get so many reps every day. I don't know what the number is or whatever it is but it's awesome.

Q. Just talk about the honor winning the McGillis award. What's it mean to you?
Lukas Denis: It's such a special moment to be in that spot and just to be able to represent McGillis and his family. You hear this story all the time and what a guy he was and a BC man and the things he was able to do for his team and the way they felt about him, that just speaks a lot, and it's just very heartwarming to know that I was chosen to represent and honor his family.

Q. What's it like to be part of that fraternity now, a pretty select group, some NFL guys on that list. What's it like for you?
Lukas Denis: Yeah, it's amazing. There's a lot of great guys on there. We have John Johnson, Isaac Yiadom, Justin Simmons, it's just great to be a part of that group and to be able to go out there every game and represent for those guys.

Q. How did spring practice go overall and are you happy with where the team's at?
Lukas Denis: I would say it went very well. It was very productive. We got a lot done. We worked on a lot of new offense and defense, which will be great and we've got a lot of the young guys to see the field more and they will be a lot more productive when the season comes around.