Senior Bowl fill-in leads drive to game-winning TD
MOBILE, Ala. - Andre Caldwell scored on a 2-yard end around on the final play of the Senior Bowl yesterday, to cap a 14-play, 86-yard final drive and lift the South to a 17-16 win over the North.
The Florida receiver took the handoff from Tennessee's Erik Ainge and plunged across the goal line. Ainge, who was invited to the all-star game after Louisville's Brian Brohm bowed out, took over at his own 14 with 2 minutes, 48 seconds left after the North was stopped on fourth down. He completed six passes and benefited from a pass interference call.
Ainge completed 13 of 21 passes for 159 yards, all of it coming in the second half.
Penn State linebacker Dan Connor, a Strath Haven product, projected as a first-round pick in this year's NFL draft, intercepted Hawaii's Colt Brennan in the first quarter. That play helped set up the North's first touchdown.
Michigan's Chad Henne accounted for both North touchdowns with a 36-yard pass to Cal's Lavelle Hawkins in the first half and a 4-yarder to Missouri's Martin Rucker with 14:32 left in the game.
Defensive players accounted for many of the big plays before the South's final drive. Southern Cal defensive tackle Sedrick Ellis sacked Andre Woodson of Kentucky to record a safety for the North. Those two points were the margin until the fourth quarter.
Then, Henne marched the North down the field for another touchdown to make it 16-7. He completed a 16-yarder to Rucker but mostly handed off to Chauncey Washington. The Southern Cal tailback ran for 30 yards on three carries in the drive.
Henne completed 5 of 10 passes for 64 yards and was the only one of the five quarterbacks who had significant time and no turnovers in the first half. Booty was intercepted by UTEP's Quintin Demps in the end zone to stop a promising drive.
In addition to getting tackled for the safety by Ellis, Woodson lost a fumble. Woodson did, however, have a 6-yard scoring pass to Tennessee tight end Brad Cottam.
Notes. Delaware quarterback Joe Flacco, a graduate of Audubon High, was 2 for 7 passing for 22 yards in two series for the North. He was intercepted once. . . . Purdue wide receiver Dorien Bryant, a Kingsway graduate, caught one pass for 3 yards. The Big Ten's leading receiver the last three seasons, he also returned a kickoff 20 yards.


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