Food Trucks. Football. Fireworks. Fans.
Those four things made for an exciting night at the Bill Jones Athletic Complex on Thursday, as the University of North Alabama hosted over 1,500 fans for the 2024 "Purple vs. White" Spring Football Game.
The football program split into two team with two different coaching staffs and two different rosters. The only person not affiliated with a team was UNA head coach Brent Dearmon, who served as "commissioner" and stood behind the action as an observer.
Offensive coordinator Kevin Wewers led Team White to a 33-22 victory over Team Purple, which was coached by defensive coordinator Brock Caraboa.
Team White jumped out to a 17-0 lead to end the first quarter, scoring two touchdowns and making the quarter-ending 47 field goal off the leg of MTSU transfer Scott Payne. Team Purple responded on the first play of the second quarter with a score and pulled within three at halftime to make it 17-14.
In what was dubbed the "overtime drive" between halves, UNA alums Sam Hathorn and Jacob Tucker went head-to-head calling a pair of drives. Tucker, a 2016 Harlon Hill Finalist, got the better of his 2008 All-American counterpart representing Team White. On the first play, he dialed up a deep 20 yard pass from TJ Smith to Takairee Kenebrew for a touchdown.
Hathorn's Team Purple took over for the next offensive drive and moved the ball to the nine yard line, but a tough incomplete pass in the corner of the end zone on fourth down kept Team White ahead 24-14 heading into the third quarter.
Team Purple made things interesting again with an eight-yard touchdown run from quarterback Noah Walters, followed by a two-point conversion pass from Walters to Justin Luke on a slant to make it 24-22. Team Purple —wearing black uniforms — stole the show at this point with a duck-duck-goose celebration.
The momentum was short-lived, as Team White stole it back at the end of the third quarter with a 53-yard field goal by Sam Contorno. Leading 27-22, Team White got a fourth down sack from Josiah Hixon and a long touchback punt from Jack Rice to pin Team Purple back on their own 20 yard line and only five minutes remaining on the running clock.
Team Purple drove to midfield and went for it on fourth down, but were unsuccessful. Team White took over with about two minutes left and one timeout at Team Purple's disposal. The game ended in thrilling fashion, as Wewers dialed up the "Lion Special" with a handoff to Juice Allen and a reverse handoff to TJ Smith, who threw it the other way to "quarterback" Ben Harris for the final score.
Smith led the winning team with five passes for 62 yards and two touchdowns, while rushing for 25 yards and another score. His running-mate, Harris, finished with two passes for 61 yards and a score. The touchdown passes were caught by Harris, Kenebrew and tight end Kaleb Heatherly. Heatherly finished with three receptions for 68 yards and a score.
Walters represented Team Purple with 14 passes for 210 yards and a touchdown. He also added a rushing touchdown and a successful two-point conversion pass. His primary target was JJ Evans with five catches for 75 yards and a touchdown. Rising sophomore Dennis Moody was the leading rusher for both teams, representing Team Purple six rushes for 84 yards and a score.
On special teams, UNA caught a glimpe of its revamped return game with the addition of Lindsey Wilson transfer Logan Collier. Collier returned a punt for a touchdown, but it was maxed out at 30 yards due to spring game rules.
On defense, Team White's A.J. Seay led all players with four tackles, while Team Purple had three from fellow defensive back Barry Womack. Team Purple also had 2.5 tackles from defensive end Kam'ron Green. In total, 23 different players recorded at least one tackle.
A pair of potential impact players forced turnovers for Team White on Thursday, including rising sophomore John Taylor with an interception on Team Purple's first offensive play. Taylor's pick set up a touchdown pass from Harris to Heatherly to make it 14-0 early on.
Incoming freshman Josh Anglin also had a key defensive play, recovering a fumble in the second quarter. Walters completed a deep pass to Evans, who got 26 yards and was trucking for the goal line before a swarm of Lions forced a fumble on the way down. The officials ruled Evans was not down and Anglin got the recovery Walters and Evans atoned for this with an 11 yard touchdown on their next drive.
After the game, a post-game fireworks show took place from Mike D. Lane Field for the thousand-plus crowd at the Bill Jones Athletic Complex. The show was presented by TNT Fireworks. Additionally, six food trucks set up shop in the parking lot.
This concludes the spring for UNA Football. The fall season opens at the FCS Kickoff event in Montgomery, Ala. as UNA will take on Southeast Missouri on Saturday, August 24 at the historic Cramton Bowl. This event will be nationally televised on the ESPN family of networks and will mark the third time in two seasons UNA has played on the national stage.
