Behind two touchdown receptions from senior wideout Gabe Marks and 23-28 passing by redshirt junior quarterback Luke Falk, Team Gray was paced to a 24-12 victory in Washington State’s Crimson and Gray Spring Game.

Playing in front of 4,129 fans at Joe Albi Stadium Saturday afternoon, the Cougar defense stole the show in a slugfest of a contest, but the leaders of the team at each position put on an exciting display on both sides of the ball.

“I thought it was competitive, I thought it was explosive at times,” WSU Head Coach Mike Leach said in an interview after the game. “At first I was afraid it was going to be disjointed. Falk and his group took a little while to warm up but once they did, they moved the ball pretty good. I thought (Tyler) Hilinski in particular played pretty well.”

Offensively for team Gray, Marks finished the afternoon with 11 receptions for 96 yards and a pair of scores, a 10-yard touchdown reception in the first quarter and another for eight yards at the end of the second quarter.

Both of Falk’s touchdown passes were to Marks, and he concluded his day with 170 yards passing. Also for team Gray, redshirt junior wideout Robert Lewis caught 11 passes for 108 yards and one touchdown.

WSU has four running backs capable of doing damage on the ground, and it showed Saturday afternoon.

Redshirt freshman James Williams, who saw his first live action since tearing his acl in high school, rushed six times for 25 yards with a seven-yard touchdown scamper in the second quarter while redshirt junior and last year’s primary starter Gerard Wicks carried the ball 13 times for 43 yards.

Redshirt junior running back Jamal Morrow rushed seven times for 30 yards.

“I was just trying to be focused today, make sure I had all my plays down and not mess up,” Williams said of his performance. “This was big for me. This is the closest I’ve been to a game since I tore my acl my senior year in high school. It’s been two years since I did something like this, so it was real fun.”

In the battle to claim the role of backup quarterback, both redshirt sophomore Peyton Bender and redshirt freshman Hilinski had their moments in the game. Hilinski completed 26-of-31 attempts for 223 yards and one score while Bender went 16-of-21 for 149 yards, one touchdown and one interception.

For team Crimson, senior wideout River Cracraft had 10 receptions for 74 yards and sophomore Tavares Martin Jr. Further entrenched his place atop the depth chart with four receptions for 61 yards, including an 18-yard touchdown pass from Bender in the third quarter.

Defensively, the Crimson defense recorded seven sacks while team Gray notched five sacks and one interception. Redshirt senior Parker Henry led all players with nine tackles, followed by redshirt junior Kirkland Parker with eight.

“I think defensively, we played pretty well today, especially towards the second and third quarters,” redshirt junior linebacker Peyton Pelluer said. “Crimson and Gray couldn’t get off the ball on third and fourth downs, and that’s something we work on and something we’ve been able to do in our past scrimmages. As far as turnover-wise and effort-wise, both teams were flying to the ball.”

Senior linebacker Aaron Porter, senior linebacker Paris Taylor and Pelluer all finished with six tackles. Redshirt sophomore Ngalu Tapa and redshirt sophomore Nick Begg each recorded three sacks while sophomore Hercules Mata’afa notched two sacks. Senior safety Shalom Luani logged the game’s only interception.

The Cougars will wrap up spring drills at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday.