NATCHEZ — The score was kept in the Alcorn State Purple and Gold game Saturday, but it wasn’t a typical game.

The purple offense scored points by reaching the end zone or kicking a field goal, but the defensive gold team scored points by causing turnovers, forcing three-and-outs and other defensive plays.

“I think the gold team defense ended up winning 48-28,” coach Earnest Collins said. “It was a goofy kind of scoring deal. We formatted it the way we did because of the numbers on the team — we only have 50 guys or so right now. It wasn’t your traditional purple versus gold team game.”

Still, Collins said he saw a lot of positive play from the Braves in the culmination of their spring practices.

And he was glad the weather held out long enough for the game not to get rained out.

“Tim Buckley ran our offense pretty well,” Collins said. “We had a receiver, Antonio DeJarnett, who stepped up for us. He had some big first-down catches, so that was really good for us to see him step up like that.

“Davaris Pilcher ran the ball for us today and picked up some first downs and got some big runs. All of that was good to see.”

Collins said there are always things that still need work in the spring, but he got a good idea of what to expect when the team regroups in the fall before the season starts.

“I wanted to see some big plays out of the defense, and there were some,” he said. “There was an interception for a touchdown, an interception in the red zone, and we moved the ball pretty well on offense.”

Collins said there were no major injuries to report this spring, only some little bumps and bruises.

The coaches will hit the road in May for some more recruiting trips before fall camps start up later this year.

The Braves’ first game is against Conference USA’s Southern Miss Golden Eagles.

“I’m looking forward to seeing our kids compete,” Collins said. “I look at this game as a way for our kids to make a statement for themselves, to compete against a Division I football program. Leading up to that game we’ll take it one day, one practice at a time.”