Nic Shimonek threw for 273 yards and three touchdowns Saturday afternoon to lead the Texas Tech offense to a 49-31 victory in the annual Spring Game held at Ford Center, the indoor practice facility of the Dallas Cowboys.
Shimonek’s three touchdown passes all came in the first half as he found Keke Coutee and Derrick Willies on seven-yard strikes and then Tony Brown on a 35-yard streak down the right sideline. He finished 26-of-33 overall in an impressive second showing leading the Red Raider starting offense.
Coutee led all Tech receivers with 55 yards through the air off five receptions. Cameron Batson and Da’Leon Ward also hauled in five passes each, totaling 38 and 26 yards, respectively, while Willies finished with 39 yards off four catches.
The highlight of the game likely came towards the end of the game, however, thanks to a pair of stellar touchdown runs from Braden and Andrew, the Fearless Dream Kids who joined the Red Raider football for the entirety of the Spring Game.
Defensively, Kisean Allen led all players with six tackles while Brayden Stringer and D.J. Polite-Bray totaled five takedowns each. Lonzell Gilmore also had four tackles, including one of the defense’s three sacks on the afternoon.
The defense picked up a key turnover to cut into the offense’s lead just before the half as Gilmore batted a Payne Sullins pass straight into the air and into the waiting arms of Nick McCann, who scampered 11 yards into the endzone.
The Red Raider offense’s lone touchdown in the second half came via a big play from a true freshman as Xavier Martin found De’Quan Bowman on a 46-yard scoring strike. Martin was 2-of-3 overall for 62 yards as one of four quarterbacks to see action. McLane Carter also went 7-of12 for 47 yards while Sullins was 4-of-9 overall for 20 yards.
With the offense prevailing, the Spring Series will be determined in a winner-take-all scrimmage next Saturday night inside Jones AT&T Stadium. The scrimmage is slated for a 7 p.m. start with a postgame autograph session to follow.
COURTESY OF TEXAS TECH ATHLETICS