By Keith Tolbert
GREENSBORO – Kelton Shepherd admitted that he didn’t know what it felt like to lose.
As a member of the Dudley football team for the past two years, Shepherd had been involved in a lot of winning, including state championships. But as a member of the West All-Star team, he got to experience losing when the East beat the West 6-0 Wednesday night and it left a bad taste in his mouth.
“I don’t know how to lose,†Shepherd said. “It’s kind of tough, but I’ll be alright.â€
Shepherd’s teammate at Dudley, Ricky Lewis Jr, said he was very disappointed to close out his high school career with a loss, but he wouldn’t trade the experience for anything.
“It was my last game and I didn’t win, but it was all for fun,†Lewis said. “If I could do it all again, I would.â€
Shepherd, a defensive lineman, and the rest of the West defense did all they could to keep the West in the game. They completely shut down the East in the first half, allowing only 68 yards of total offense.
“Our coach said they brought in a lot of big dudes for a power (running) game,†said Shepherd, who finished with eight tackles and two forced fumbles. “We knew they would be doing more running than passing. We were just getting off the ball like our coach told us.â€
But Lewis, who started at quarterback for the West, and the rest of the offense couldn’t execute when they needed to, especially in the red zone. Lewis spent most of the game playing running back, but did complete a 39-yard pass on a reverse in the first quarter.
That set up the West’s first scoring opportunity, but it couldn’t cash in and a 36-yard field goal attempt was wide right.
“We knew the East was going to be good,†Lewis said. “They were just too big and blowing us off the line.â€
The East used excellent field position to move the ball well in the first quarter, but couldn’t get on the board. One drive ended due to a fumble and the second drive ended in West territory after a penalty.
The West moved the ball effectively on its second possession with two 39-yard passes, one by Dudley’s Ricky Lewis, but couldn’t execute in the red zone. A 36-yard field goal attempt by Zack Pickard from Southern Alamance was wide right.
The West looked to score on its only possession of the second quarter, moving the all 89 yards. But first and goal at the nine was quickly third and goal at the 10 and quarterback A.J. Bazzle waited too long to throw into the end zone and was picked off by Jerrod White from Jack Britt.
The East fumbled and recovered on its next possession, but that play put them in a hole and they punted. The West punted back to them three plays later and the East ended the half with only two plays.
The scoring drought continued in the third quarter, with neither team mounting a serious threat. The East started a drive at its 29 late in the quarter and methodically marched down the field.
The drive continued into the fourth quarter with running backs KaRonne Jones and Steven Moore doing most of the damage. The East got into the red zone for the first time all game and took advantage of it. Moore scored form five yards out with 9:11 to play in the game. The extra point was blocked and the East had a 6-0 lead.
“I was just disappointed that they scored,†Shepherd said. “That kind of brought our spirits down. We tried. We gave it 110 percent. You can’t ask for more than that.â€
East West
First downs 12 16
Rushing yards 47-174 30-65
Passes 1-0-0 8-17-1
Passing yards 0 128
Fumbles/lost 4-0 3-0
Penalties 5-30 4-25
Punts 6-31.7 5-37.6
By quarters 1 2 3 4 Total
East 0 0 0 6 6
West 0 0 0 0 0
Scoring
East – Steven Moore 5 run (kick blocked)
There’s a lot of hype that goes into this game and there should be. It’s an honor to play in the game. After watching the game for nearly 25 years now one truth is painfully obvious. IT”S BORING! 6-0? Not just this year, every year. Please I don’t want to hear how I should appreciate a good defensive game, I already do. But this isn’t about good defense it’s about coaches having 5 days to put an offense together. I know defenses are limited to not blitzing and a vanilla defense but offenses are limited to a few formation. Let’s do away with limiting the offense so much so it’s not a painfully boring night of 3 and out. And why the frig was Matt Millisor not kicking for the West team?
It has reached a point where the larger DI schools won’t let their kids play in this game and it has caused the game to lose some of it’s talent significance.
The DI’s want their recruits to be in Summer School and in workouts all summer long.
Matt Millisor is at ECU and they do not want their kids in the All-Star game.
Millisor is looking very good from what we are hearing and the other ECU Pirate kicker has been a bit lazy from what our sources tell us. Matt is training and he will be ready.
You bring up a very good point and when did you think we’d see the soccer out-score the football. Soccer put up 9 points/goals for girls and boys combined and football only can muster up 6 points. WOW!
It hasn’t hurt the crowds, but some fans are wondering if they might be better served in the future to leave the game early and go home and watch the paint dry on their kitchen walls.
They need to have a mini-camp prior to the East-West football game some time in June to give the players a chance to get to know each other and to learn the offense. Looks like the defense is all right. Do the college coaches have that much power where they can tell a kid that he can’t play in the All Star game? Who really controls these contests?
Disappointed no full box on newspaper or anywhere. Anyone know how GC recruit QB Antwan Thorpe did? Guess he didn’t throw a completion since East had zero yards passing.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz as far as entertainment value…
Thorpe is one of my favorite high school players from the past couple of years. He went up against the Dudley Panthers his junior and put up overall huge numbers that year and he also had an impressive senior HS season.
I was shocked the Greensboro College got him, but the height 5’10 and weight 175ish might have been a drawback. Very similar in size to Ricky Lewis Jr. of Dudley.
Thorpe also outstanding in HS basketball and baseball. Strong academics too from what I have read.
I was very disappointed in the choice of offenses last night, especially the East. Why in the world would you run a double tight wishbone from the 2nd quarter on. The point of an all star game such as this is to showcase the kids talents not actually win. The East team did nothing but grind it out almost the entire game. Made for a very unexciting football game from a fans standpoint who didnt realy have a team to cheer for.
Some of the boredom is set in the rules for the all-star game. I was on the sideline last night and there were two times the East coaches called time out to protest a formation the West was running. Allow the offenses some freedom to open things up a bit. Also like to add that there is good reason some D1 schools don’t let players participate in the game. Anyone remember Dell Seagraves from Dudley(somewhere around ’85)? Full ride to Pitt blew his knee out on first play from scrimmage. I know there was at least one serious knee injury to a West player last night, MCL tear I believe.