Looking back at last night’s East-West All-Star Football Game from Jamieson Stadium

Nice crowd somewhere between 7,000 and 8,000 on hand to watch last night’s 19-7 win by the West over the East, at Jamieson Stadium and there were many things to take note of….

Solid game running the ball by Thuc Phan from Page High School, and although he won’t have a lot of yards to show for efforts, he worked hard not to lose yardage on his 6 carries and he had the one pass reception for 12 yards……I told one observer, I don’t think it so much you have to give Thuc the ball on the end-around, to me that gives the defense more time to get in place and make the tackle, why not give him the straight handoff off of the right side, pull some of the big linemen and let him use his speed to hard and quick to the outside…..He took some big hits, but he was right back up off of the ground and ready to go again….

Aaron Leach, from High Point Central, was in on numerous plays on defense and he recovered a fumble…..Leach fron his LB/DB spot was all over the field and his name kept coming up on the public address system with announcer Jeffrey Griffin…..Leach got his name out there in a big way in this game and his tackles were sure tackles and he did a very good job of putting the ball carrier away…..

Josh Hawkins, of Glenn High School, had several carries as a runningback on offense and the numbering system on the West roster was interesting with Josh Hawkins(Glenn) #4, Thuc Phan(Page) #6, Derek Grant(HP Central) #7 and Aaron Leach(HP Central) #10, pretty much all right there together, on the West roster…..

John Knox II(Salisbury) was named the Offensive Player of the Game and Javon Hargrave(North Rowan) was the Defensive Player of the Game….

East miscues early did cost them them the win, they had the fumble on the first possession and the West missed the field goal and the mistakes by both teams were prevalent early and the West settled down and went to work to build the lead and then win the game, 19-7….

The East kicker, Dillon Maples, from Pinecrest was unreal…..He boomed the second half kickoff from tee 65 yards through the uprights with some room to spare and this kid, headed to Carolina, has one heck of a foot….He was also the Gatorade Player of the Year in high school baseball this past season, for the state of North Carolina….Maples is a real talent and he will play both sports at UNC….

The game was entertaining, it had scoring and that is what the fans want to see….They don’t really buy into the 7-6 or 6-0 type games, the fans want to see offense and they want scoring and they got that from the West at least, if not the East too, on Wednesday eveing at Jamieson Stadium….

Former Grimsley Whirlie and now Raleigh Athens Drive coach Jeff Smouse was in the house and he had his son Brian, a former Grimsley and UNC quarterback with him…..They used to call Coach Smouse, “The Smouse that roared”, when the Whirlies would beat Page, but it didn’t happen all that often…..It was good to see Coach Smouse again and we still remember Brian back when he was playing Pee Wee football for Lewis Center….Now Brian is an assistant coach with his dad at Athens Drive……

Dennis White and Big Jim Modlin were in the house, as were Joe Barile, Emily Craft and Chris Hughes fron CarolinaPreps.com, Nelson Kepley, key sports photographer from the News and Record was on board, as were Brian Formica of WFMY NEWS 2 Sports, Joe Daniels(Carolina Peacemaker), Walter Johnson(TV 16), Mr. Crenshaw(Weaver Center) and many others……Brandon Anderson, William Hardin, Tim Via, Bob Via, Lewis Newman, Damon Coiro, Coach Marion Kirby, Coach Clayton Nance, and many other football people were in the mix at the game on Wednesday evening…..Coach Hardin is not football, but baseball, but he was in the football mix last night……Always good to be in the mix……