Temple's defense is way ahead of the offense in Cherry and White game

Temple's Cherry and White Day scrimmage was not exactly an offensive masterpiece, but it was productive as far as coach Al Golden was concerned.

Sophomore Brandon McManus converted a 51-yard field goal on the final play of the first quarter for the only points as White shut out Cherry, 3-0, Saturday before 4,400 fans at Temple.

"We got a lot of work done today," Golden said on Saturday. "That was the most we've worked this spring. We have one more scrimmage on Thursday. I'm just trying to get them to understand how long they have to maintain their focus on game day."

A lot of attention focused on the quarterbacks. Redshirt junior Chester Stewart was 8-for-15 for 119 yards, redshirt junior Mike Gerardi 8-for-18 for 80 yards, and redshirt freshman Chris Coyer finished 6-for-15 for 70 yards.

"Overall, as an offense, I don't think we did what we wanted to come out and do," Stewart said. "We had a lot of good drives going, and we came out with a bang, but we didn't finish too strong. We left a lot of plays on the field."

Bernard Pierce rushed 14 times for 88 yards, and redshirt sophomore Ahkeem Smith followed with 10 carries for 42 yards.

"I'm not going to lie; I wanted to score," Pierce said. "Our defense didn't see it that way."

Redshirt freshman tight end Cody Booth led the receivers with four receptions for 38 yards, and redshirt freshman tight end Alex Jackson, a former defensive end, caught three passes for 32 yards.

Defensively, redshirt senior linebacker Jordan Martin recorded a game-high nine tackles and had three sacks for losses of 20 yards. Junior defensive back Kee-ayre Griffin had six tackles and an interception.

"We're not where we need to be, but we have talent," Golden said of the defense. "I think the biggest problem now on defense is the disparity between the first unit and the second unit. That's a big disparity right now."

Five players were recognized as the team's spring award winners: Jeremy Schonbrunner (spirit and enthusiasm), Booth (most improved non-scholarship player), Tahir Whitehead (most improved defensive player), Wayne Tribue (most improved offensive player), and Smith (most improved special teams player).

Temple opens its 2010 season against NCAA Division I-AA (FCS) national champion Villanova in the second annual Mayor's Cup game on Friday, Sept. 3 at Lincoln Financial Field.