Aug. 18, 2001

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- In front of a crowd of nearly 6,000, the Illinois offense defeated the defense, 35-0, in the annual Orange and Blue scrimmage. Storms hit the Champaign-Urbana area prior to the game making the conditions cool and soggy for the first contest on the new turf.

"Some of the positions are very even," head coach Ron Turner said. "It's good that the players are being challenged for playing time because we want competition in practice. I liked the speed of the defense. It was much better. Sometimes our offense looked like it was in slow motion. Hopefully our defense was the factor."

The defense began the game by holding the offense to three-straight three-and-outs. The defense continued its strong hold of the offense until senior quarterback Kurt Kittner unleashed an 80-yard touchdown pass during his fourth series to Walter Young to put the offense on the board. Not to be outdone, sophomore quarterback Dustin Ward threw a 63-yard bomb in his fourth series to Dwayne Smith to the 6-yard line. Ward completed the series with a 6-yard TD pass to Greg Lewis. Redshirt-freshman quarterback Mark Kornfeld hit fellow redshirt-freshman Ade Adeyemo with a 32-yard pass for the final throwing score.

Antoineo Harris also found the endzone with a 1-yard touchdown run just before the halftime break. Freshman Cory Flisakowski capped off the scoring with a 1-yard run of his own. Harris was the leading rusher with 32 yards on six carries.

Kittner completed 10 of his 17 pass attempts for 171 yards. He also threw two interceptions. Ward was 10-18 for 138 yards. Walter Young and Dwayne Smith led the receiving corps with 80 yards and 63 yards, respectively.

Sophomore Joe Bevis led the Illini on the defensive side of the ball with six tackles. Jerry Schumacher added five. Senior defensive back Bobby Jackson also looked sharp as he picked off a Kittner pass and returned it 18 yards. Nana Agyeman and Jamaal Clark recorded one interception each.

PLAY BALL: It's not all football during summer conditioning. This summer, the Illini divided themselves into six teams and played softball once a week. The Chicago-style softball season came to a conclusion with the league championship game being held on the turf at Memorial Stadium Friday night. The Huff City Riders defeated Team Six 9-8 in the nine-inning contest.

LOOKING AHEAD: The Illini will have Sunday off to move into their dorms and apartments. With classes beginning on Wednesday, Sunday is the official campus-wide move-in day. The Illini will get back to business on Monday with more double sessions at 8:15 and 3:15. Two-a-days conclude on Tuesday with the regular 8:15 practice in the morning and an early afternoon session scheduled for 1:45.