Greensboro– The East All-Stars won a penalty-ridden, low-scoring contest against the West All-Stars Wednesday night at Jamieson Stadium on the campus of Grimsley High School.
The West’s Ron Hunt (Southern Guilford/NC A&T) caught a 55-yard pass on the opening drive which was good enough for second on the team in all-purpose yards in the game. Unfortunately for Hunt and the West, he was ejected not long after the biggest play of the game for his team for unsportsman-like conduct.
“I was blocking for my receiver who had cut back to my side,” Hunt said of the play that led to his ejection. “I blocked him out of bounds. The guy was saying something and pushed me, I pushed him back and got called for the penalty. It’s an all love thing, I talked to him after the game. He got in my head (during the play).”
The West struck first, shortly after the reception by Hunt, with 10:37 remaining in the first quarter when Joseph Bruner hit a 38-yard field goal to make the score 3-0.
The East added field goals with 3:26 and 1:40 remaining in the opening twelve minutes to give them a tenuous 6-3 lead, one they would hold well through the second half.
Both teams showed signs of practicing together for only a week, making several mistakes on the field and being called for multiple penalties.
The East was called for 9 penalties totaling 100-yards, and the West was penalized 8 times for 70-yards.
Page Offensive lineman Will Hardin spoke to the comradery of the game.
“I had a blast even though we lost,” Hardin said. “I thought I did pretty well. With a week of practice, it wasn’t bad.”
The East opened up the game when quarterback Zack Foster connected with Jaquay Mitchell on the far sideline for a 66-yard touchdown with 9:30 left to play in the game. Kyle Corbett added the extra point and the East led 13-3.
The final score of the evening came only three minutes later when the East once again scored a touchdown, this time on a five-yard run by Nick Bynum. Corbett’s point-after attempt was good, and the East held on to win by a decisive 20-3.
Colton Weeks (Southwest Guilford/UNC-P) was the second leading tackler for the West. Weeks finished with four solo tackles and one assist, giving him a total of five tackles on the evening. Weeks was his usual self, wide open, and all over the field.
The East had a total of 170 offensive yards, while the West accumulated 176 yards of offense.
“It was a great opportunity,” Weeks said. “I love all of these guys even though I’ve only known them for a few days. All I know is to fly around and hit somebody and that’s what I did tonight. We just battled. That’s all I can do, ask for these guys to have my back, have theirs, and fly around and make some plays.”
Score: 1 2 3 4 – Total
East: 6 0 0 14 – 20
West: 3 0 0 0 – 3
Ron Hunt: 1 rec 55yds
Colton Weeks: 4 solo, 1 asst – 5 Tackles
The East Offensive MVP was a very late edition to the East squad…from Zach Mayo at WRALSportsFan.com…..
GREENSBORO, N.C. — Three days before needing to report to Greensboro, Jaquay Mitchell was in his front yard playing baseball with his cousin when he got the call inviting him to the N.C. Coaches Association East-West All-Star football game. Fortunately for the East team, Mitchell accepted without hesitation.
Mitchell completed a quick and effective turnaround Wednesday night, going from late addition to Offensive Most Valuable Player as the East defeated the West 20-3 in front of a packed crowd at Jamieson Stadium.
“My coach, Coach Foster, called me,” Mitchell said. “I told him I’d love to play in the East-West game. He told me we had to get on it quick.”
*****Mitchell was even on the original East squad/roster…*****