BOONE, N.C. — After a week-long break for Easter vacation, Appalachian State University football returned to Kidd Brewer Stadium on Wednesday afternoon for the fifth of 15 spring practices.

Due to last week's blast of winter weather, Wednesday's practice was the first since March 23 to be held outdoors. The two-hour workout was conducted in full pads.

Defense dominated the action for much of Wednesday's full-team drills. Headlining the defensive highlights was perhaps the biggest hit of the spring to date when junior defensive back Joel Ross leveled senior wide receiver Andrew Peacock after Peacock caught an ill-advised swing pass in the flat. Ross jarred the ball loose from Peacock on the huge hit and sophomore linebacker Stephen Machanic scooped up the fumble and returned it for a touchdown.

Freshman linebacker John Law notched another scoop-and-score for the defense later in the afternoon when he recovered his own forced fumble and took it to paydirt.

The defense nearly scored another touchdown when sophomore linebacker Greg Hall batted down a pass at the line of scrimmage and junior defensive lineman Ronald Blair nearly made a terrific play to haul in the deflected ball. However, Blair couldn't quite get a handle on the ball before it fell incomplete. Had he been able to make the catch, he likely would have reached the end zone untouched.

The pass break-up was just one of several nice plays by Hall, who also forced a fumble later in the afternoon.

Despite the defensive domination throughout much of practice, the first-team offense closed out the day by putting together an eight-play, 65-yard touchdown drive during the final period. Junior quarterback Logan Hallock completed 4-of-5 passes during the drive, including two to sophomore wideout Sean Price, but the biggest yards of the series were picked up by sophomore running back Ricky Fergerson. Fergerson kept the drive alive midway through the series with a long gain on third down and capped it with a 13-yard touchdown run.

Spring practice continues later this week in preparation for two major events later this month — an open practice on Saturday, April 13 at Ardrey Kell H.S. in Charlotte and the April 20 spring game at Kidd Brewer Stadium.