TERRE HAUTE —
South’s All-Stars were in a giving mood Saturday night at Memorial Stadium and North’s All-Stars were happy to take advantage, rolling to a 40-13 victory in the Wabash Valley Football Coaches Association All-Star game for recent high school football graduates.
Officially the most one-sided game and unofficially the hottest one in the six-year series, Saturday’s game didn’t seem all that uneven — except perhaps in the categories of turnovers and mistakes.
“We said earlier in the week that turnovers and mistakes would play a big part, and that was something we didn’t do,” said coach Todd Evers of Marshall and the winning North squad.
“Any game you play, you can’t turn the darn thing over like that,” agreed coach Troy Burgess of South Putnam and the South team.
North scored on its first four offensive possessions, never needing to go as far as half the length of the field to do so.
A pair of Cumberland defenders set up the first two scores, a fumble recovery by defensive lineman Jim Kruse setting up a 47-yard drive and Taylor Duncan’s touchdown pass to Seth Brewer — an ironic Marshall-to-Casey connection — and Cole Miller’s tackle on a fourth-down swing pass thwarting a South gamble and leading to a bomb from Duncan to North Putnam’s Kyle Adams bomb two plays later.
Then it was South Vermillion’s Andy Walsh’s turn to play quarterback, and he immediately benefitted from a fumble recovery by Rockville’s Cody Stout and a punt return by Casey’s Chris Unzicker to lead drives that ended in short runs by Walsh himself and by Levi Eslinger of Paris.
“It was just a fun week,” said Stout, one of several defensive line standouts for the North team that also included his Rockville teammate James Kent, North Putnam’s Darr Borruff and West Vigo’s Josh Hubbard. “Playing with the Rockville guys again [was fun], and we all got to come together as a team and get a win, which made the whole week fun.”
“Defensively our guys came and brought their lunch,” Evers said. “They were hitting everybody out there.”
Unzicker’s punt return — set up by his own big hit on a reverse, then a third-down pass rush by Borruff — wasn’t a thing of beauty at first, but nearly became a masterpiece. He stumbled fielding a 46-yard kick by South Putnam’s Drew Cash, fielded the ball on a short hop and returned it 47 yards.
“The sun was coming out that way,” the three-sport Warrior explained after the game, “and that made me lose the ball. Then I slipped, had to go back and pick it up, and I got some good blocks … this turf, I’m not used to it. I had the end zone in my sights, and then it was gone.”
North still scored in three plays, Walsh carrying once and Eslinger twice, and the score was 27-0 just past the midpoint of the second quarter.
South had been moving the ball on rushes by Cash and sweeps and reverses by Greencastle’s Jordan Hickam, however, and closed out the first half with an 80-yard scoring drive. A 14-yard pass from Olney’s Brandon Bailey to Hickam gave the South team first-and-goal at the 10, and Cash scored in two carries.
South had a chance to continue its momentum early in the third quarter when Linton’s Stefan Sparks intercepted a pass — North’s only turnover — inside the 5-yard line, but North’s defense held its opponent without a first down on its first second-half drive and got an interception and 24-yard return by North Putnam’s Shawn Diebold on the second.
That pick set up the first score of the second half, Walsh throwing — while being leveled by an illegal hit — a 24-yard touchdown pass to West Vigo’s John Burt. North added its sixth short touchdown drive after a fake punt backfired, Mattoon’s Desmond McDonald scoring on a 1-yard run.
“Give [North] a short field and they’re going to make you pay,” Burgess said afterward. “They’re good … and their coaches did a good job.”
South put together its second long drive for a score late in the game, Cash setting the touchdown up with a 31-yard shovel pass from Bailey and scoring it on a 2-yard run to give him a game-high 101 yards rushing.
“It was different, playing against everybody at the top of their skill,” Cash said afterward. “It was a blast [this week]. I didn’t think I’d be able to play with my [South Putnam] teammates again, so it was a lot of fun.”
“Drew ran hard, and the guys up front did a nice job opening holes,” Burgess added.
North didn’t have the same kind of statistics for two reasons: Duncan and Walsh, both of whom played very well, split the quarterback spot almost evenly, and once North got the lead a lot of its play calling was designed to make sure all its skill-position players got stats — which they did.
“It was a blast,” Walsh said after the game. “It was great just playing with everybody and getting to know them as people and not just football players.”
Asked about the quarterback platoon, Walsh added, “Taylor and I … he’s been running this offense during the year and he helped me out. We had a good situation — and it was great killing South.”
“I had a little fun,” Duncan agreed. “It was a great experience being out there with [the Marshall] guys.
“We implemented everything we wanted to,” Duncan added when asked about the North offense. “Me and Andy executed real well. I’ve been running this offense four years, and it seemed like he had too.”
“Walsh and Duncan looked phenomenal,” Evers agreed. “I couldn’t find two better quarterbacks to run our spread offense.”
North 40, South 13
South All-Stars 0 6 0 7 — 13
North All-Stars 13 14 7 6 — 40
N — Seth Brewer 5 pass from Taylor Duncan (kick blocked by Adam Masters), 5:51 1st
N — Kyle Adams 39 pass from Duncan (Robert Morris kick), 1:13 1st
N — Andy Walsh 3 run (Morris kick), 8:31 2nd
N — Levi Eslinger 4 run (Morris kick), 5:15 2nd
S — Drew Cash 4 run (kick failed), 1:09 2nd
N — John Burt 24 pass from Walsh (Morris kick), 6:34 3rd
N — Desmond McDonald 1 run (kick failed), 7:36 4th
S — Cash 2 run (Martin Hudak kick), 2:44 4th
S N
First downs 11 14
Rushes-yards 34-149 36-135
Passing yards 58 131
Comp-Att-Int 6-11-1 8-14-1
Return yards 34 68
Punts-avg 2-34.5 1-38
Fumbles-lost 2-2 2-0
Penalties-yards 6-45 1-15
Individual statistics
Rushing: South — Cash 19-101, Jordan Hickam 5-29, Evan Magni 1-20, Dillon Shedd 1-8, Jesse Ford 1-minus 1, Brandon Bailey 5-minus 3, Bryn Schwartz 2-minus 5. North — Duncan 11-53, McDonald 9-33, Eslinger 5-22, Walsh 8-18, Darr Borruff 3-9.
Passing: South — Bailey 5-10-1, 59 yards; Schwartz 1-1-0, minus 1. North — Walsh 5-8-1, 74 yards; Duncan 3-6-0, 57.
Receiving: South — Hickam 3-24, Cash 2-30, Alex Smith 1-4. North — Burt 2-28, Brewer 2-18, Adams 1-39, Cody Mumaw 1-34, Jared Dosien 1-9, Shawn White 1-3.
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