In a game with scoring that started and ended with a safety and featured a combined 92 points and 932 yards of total offense, the Division I West took a 50-42 win over the Division I East in Saturday morning’s 8-Man All-Star Game at Trojan Field in Beloit.
The East had the ball first, but on the fourth play of their opening drive, Rawlins County’s Brayan Rodriguez intercepted a pass to give the West the ball at their own 28. The West stalled on their opening drive and had to punt. The East took over at their own 24 and went backwards as four plays into the drive, Jonathan Mader of Hoxie made a tackle in the end zone, resulting in a safety and giving the West a 2-0 advantage.
After the free kick, the West found pay dirt for the first time as on the first play of their second drive, LaCrosse QB Caden Morgan started a sensational morning and afternoon with his first TD pass, connecting with Quinter’s Trace Kinderknecht on a 42-yard touchdown pass. The West led 8-0 with 5:55 remaining in the first quarter.
The East took little time to respond. On the second play of their ensuing drive, Central-Burden QB Jace Wunderlich found an opening for a 48-yard touchdown scamper to cut the West lead to 8-6.
The next possession for each squad resulted in a punt and West incomplete shovel pass was ruled a fumble by the officials, giving the East the ball at the West 33 with just 51 seconds left in the first quarter. One play later, the East took their first lead of the game at 12-8 on a 33-yard touchdown run by Wunderlich.
The East held that lead going into the second quarter, but the West was able to bounce back from the tough break late in the first. With 10:47 left in the first half, Morgan found Meade’s Brock Keith on a 15-yard touchdown pass to reclaim a 14-12 lead. After at three-and-out and punt by the East, the West needed just one play to reach the end zone as Morgan and Keith connected again on a 36-yard touchdown, moving the lead to 20-12.
With the West holding the momentum, the East was looking to get back on the board, and five plays later, they did just that. A 13-yard TD pass from from Wunderlich to Micah Cauthers of Chase County got the East within 20-18 with 7:29 left in the first half.
Driving deep into the East’s territory on their next possession, the West drive was thwarted with an interception by Little River’s Andrew Smith with 5:13 left in the half. The East capped another five-play drive with another touchdown pass from Wunderlich to Cauthers and Wunderlich ran in the two-point conversion to put the East back up 26-20 at the 2:06 mark in the first half.
On their heels again, the West responded with a five-play, 65-yard drive capped by a 1-yard TD run by Morgan. Morgan connected with Wichita County’s Christopher Michel on the two-pointer to put the West up 28-26 with 26 seconds left and they went to halftime with that lead.
After a high-scoring first half, the second half started a bit slower. After each team punted on their first drive of the third quarter, the West finished off their longest drive of eight plays with an 11-yard TD pass from Morgan to Michel. Lincoln’s Logan Meier added the two-point run to put the West up 36-26 with 5:12 left in the third.
The East had a turnover on downs on their next possession. Late in the third quarter, the West came up with a big trick play on a hook-and-ladder from Morgan to his LaCrosse teammate Gage Burk, who then pitched to Keith for the 56-yard touchdown in the end, giving the West a 42-26 lead with 24 seconds left in the third.
The scored remained the same going into the final quarter, but the East did not go away. After each team had a turnover on downs, the East got back on the board with a 23-yard touchdown pass from Wunderlich to Andrew Smith. Wunderlich scored on a two-point run to cut the lead back to one possession at 42-34 with 6:38 remaining.
The West needed very little time to deliver a counterpunch as three plays and a minute and 18 seconds later, Meier had a two-yard touchdown run to extend their lead to 48-34. The East then used five plays on their ensuing possession, capped with a 13-yard pass from Wunderlich to Tucker Groh of Chase County. Wunderlich added the two-point run to bring the East with 48-42 with 3:25 remaining.
The East forced a punt on the West’s next possession, but just one play what ended up being their final drive, Wunderlich bobbled a snap and covered it in the end zone, resulting in a safety to put the West up 50-42 with 2:05 remaining. After the free kick, the West needed just three plays and finished the game with a kneel-down by Morgan, capping the eight-point win.
The West finished with 481 yards of total offense. Morgan had an outstanding day, completing 22 of 35 passes for 387 yards and five touchdowns and he also added a rushing touchdown. Keith caught five passes for 153 yards and three scores, while Kinderknecht also crossed the century mark with nine catches for 119 yards and a touchdown receiving. For the East, Wunderlich excelled, combining for 409 of the 451 total yards for the team. Wunderlich went 16-23 for 237 yards and four touchdowns passing and added 172 yards on 20 carries and two touchdowns on the ground. Cauthers was the leading receiver with 66 yards and two touchdowns.
The West picked up their second straight win in the DI All-Star Game, advancing their overall series lead to 13-10 since 2001.
Scoring Summary
1st, West: Safety, 6:02 (2-0 West)
1st, West: Kinderknecht 42 pass from Morgan (PAT failed), 5:55 (8-0 West)
1st, East: Wunderlich 48 run (PAT failed), 4:54 (8-6 West)
1st, East: Wunderlich 33 run (PAT failed), 0:42 (12-8 East)
2nd, West: Keith 15 pass from Morgan (PAT failed), 10:47 (14-12 West)
2nd, West: Keith 36 pass from Morgan (PAT failed), 9:19 (20-12 West)
2nd, East: Cauthers 13 pass from Wunderlich (PAT failed), 7:29 (20-18 West)
2nd, East: Cauthers 13 pass from Wunderlich (Wunderlich run), 2:06 (26-20 East)
2nd, West: Morgan 1 run (Michel pass from Morgan), 0:26 (28-26 West)
3rd, West: Michel 11 pass from Morgan (Meier run), 5:12 (36-26 West)
3rd, West: Keith 56 pass from Morgan (PAT failed), 1:24 (42-26 West)
4th, East: An. Smith 23 pass from Wunderlich (Wunderlich run), 6:38 (42-34 West)
4th, West: Meier 2 run (PAT failed), 5:15 (48-34 West)
4th, East: Groh 13 pass from Wunderlich (Wunderlich run), 3:25 (48-42 West)
4th, West: Safety, 2:05 (50-42 West)
DI All-Star Game Stats:
East West
Total Offense: 451 481
Rush Offense: 214 92
Pass Offense: 237 389
Penalties: 6-54 6-40
Score by Quarters:
1st 2nd 3rd 4th Total
East 12 14 0 16 42
West 8 20 14 8 50
Individual Rushing:
East: Wunderlich 20-172, 2 TD, 3 PAT; Massey 9-47; Griffin 1-(-5)
West: Meier 7-47, TD, PAT; Morgan 11-35, TD; Keith 4-7; Kinderknecht 1-3; Long 1-0
Individual Passing:
East: Wunderlich 16-23-237, 4 TD, INT
West: Morgan 22-35-387, 5 TD, INT, PAT; Long 1-1-2; Meier 0-1
Individual Receiving:
East: Cauthers 5-66, 2 TD; Groh 3-48, TD; Bonura 4-38; Wirth 1-35; Griffin 1-26; An. Smith 1-23, TD; Massey 2-8
West: Keith 5-153, 3 TD; Kinderknecht 9-119, TD; Novotny 5-86; Michel 1-11, TD, PAT; Burk 1-8; Gardner 1-8; Bird 2-4
