PORTLAND — Saturday’s Portland State spring football game wrapped up a festive afternoon for the Vikings that included the official groundbreaking for the new Viking Pavilion, a renovation of the current Peter W. Stott Center.
The Vikings treated their fans to a 65-play scrimmage at Stott Community Field.
Alex Kuresa had an impressive day, completing 10 of 13 passes for 173 yards and one touchdown. Blair Cavanaugh, a senior, led all receivers with six receptions for 111 yards.
Kuresa’s backup, redshirt freshman Thomas Hamilton, was 8 of 14 passing for 73 yards. Senior running back Nate Tago had the highlight play, an 83-yard scoring burst midway through the scrimmage. He also had a four-yard touchdown run.
Transfer safety Chris Hayes and transfer linebacker Taylor Biaggi, both juniors, made seven tackles each to lead the defense. Biaggi also had one of eight “touch” sacks by the defense.
John Norcross, a junior from Camas, had four tackles. Junior defensive end Davond Dade had three tackles, including a sack and a field goal block.
“I had to see where we are at defensively,” head coach Bruce Barnum said. “We have a lot of new guys in the middle of the defense. We rolled a lot of guys through there (during the spring) and I am happy with that.”
The offense completed the scrimmage without a turnover.
“It surprised me how far we were ahead of last year,” Barnum said. “It allowed us to advance a few things on the x’s and o’s.”
Portland State hosts Central Washington in the season opener on Sept. 3 at Providence Park.
