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Football
Kick Scrimmage Reveals Very Average Kicking Game
By John Porentas

It wasn't exactly a great day for the kickers in the annual kick scrimmage.

Aaron Pettry had two kicks blocked and missed a couple more. Ryan Pretorius also had a miss from 42 yards out and freshman place kicker Ben Buchanan missed from 44. A total of three place kicks were blocked.

The punting game was also fairly average. Neither A. J. Trapasso nor Jon Thoma had what you might call a great day. They weren't awful, but they just weren't great either.

"Other than kickoffs I had a really off day. I just wasn't feeling right," said Trapasso.

Kickoffs were about the only bright spot. Trapasso and Pettry were consistently deep with kickoffs. As far as the blocked kicks go, Pettry took full blame for the two he got blocked.

"I got started a little late and I got two blocked. They had pushed through but my time was slow. I left too late. The ball should have been already gone by the time they got there, so it was my fault," said Pettry.

Numerous players wore numbers that did not match the numbers on the roster making it tough for observers to know who was making plays. For example, Donald Washing wore 99, Alex Boone 14, Austin Spitler 70, Jamario O'Neal 93, and so on. There isn't much question as to who made the play of the day however. Freshman running back Jermil Martin intercepted a pass on a fake punt and returned it 42 yards for a touchdown, running over several would-be tacklers near the goal line including punter A. J. Trapasso.

"I'm not much of a defensive guy. It just wasn't pretty, so we're going to forget about that one," said Trapasso.

The return game was adequate if not overwhelming, though in all fairness, several of the top returners did not participate including punt returner Brian Hartline and kick returners Brandon Saine and Boom Herron.

"He (Hartline) was allowed one play today," said Tressel. I told him he could have one play if it was a fair catch. I don't think he got that one play."

Saine is sidelined with a minor injury. The Buckeyes used freshman Devier Posey and redshirt freshman Devon Torrence as returners.

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