Everything comes together for East
Sunday, July 25, 2004
Chris Beaven, Canton Repository
CANTON — They didn’t know much about each other a week ago.
They knew names. They recognized a few faces. That was about it.
Nine days later, the guys on the East came together as a pretty good football
team during Saturday’s 15th annual Repository East-West All-Star Game.
The East carried a shutout into the final minute and won 14-6 in front of more
than 8,000 on the new artificial turf at Fawcett Stadium.
“We had a lot of unselfish guys that were really good high school football
players,” said East head coach Don Hertler Jr., of North Canton Hoover.
“Everyone sacrifices for an all-star game, because everyone is used to being
the star of their team. And everyone sacrificed for us.”
That’s an attitude that took shape when the team gathered a week ago.
“I didn’t know what to expect,” said East tight end Chaz Keeney of Hoover.
“But everyone came together, and we didn’t have any big egos.”
“Everyone was just unbelievable,” said East running back Alex Ramsey of Hoover. “You never heard anyone complaining about playing time.”
The game didn’t feature much offense — 278 combined yards — but the East made enough big plays offensively to put together two nice scoring drives.
Defensively, the East did the job all night, limiting the West to 2.1 yards per play.
“We knew we’d take the field with a pretty good defense,” said East cornerback Mike Henkel of GlenOak. “Guys did what they were supposed to, and we dominated.”
Hertler praised the work of Marlington coaches Steve Miller and Dan Pallante for the defense’s performance.
The East allowed 132 yards, only 55 in the first half.
“You’ve got to give it up to the defense,” Ramsey said. “They’d never played together, and they played awesome.”
Louisville’s Curt Moore and Mike Clough, GlenOak’s Nick Smith and Hoover’s Kyle Watts each had sacks. Moore also knocked down a pass.
West head coach Phil Mauro of Jackson was impressed with the East’s defensive front.
“They put a lot of pressure on us,” he said.
Henkel added an interception and broke up three passes, one in the end zone.
“Henkel did a great job at defensive back,” Hertler said. “Really, you can name a lot of different people on different plays.”
The East wasted no time scoring, driving 78 yards in 14 plays on the game’s first possession.
Ramsey ran seven times for 21 yards, but the East did its biggest damage through the air. Hoover quarterback Sam Cerreta was 6-of-6 for 52 yards on the drive. He completed passes to four receivers.
“He came out on fire, and all the kids did a nice job,” Hertler said. “Having a quarterback, some backs and some other guys that have played together (at Hoover) helps. We were able to drive the ball and hold it a long time there in the first quarter.”
Watts made a nice diving catch to keep the drive going on a fourth-and-7 from the West 41. Watts made the grab on deep post pattern from the left side. The play went for 25 yards.
“That was a big play for them,” Mauro said. “A great catch.”
Keeney added three catches on the drive for 26 yards. He said he wasn’t expecting that busy of a game as a receiver, “but I was ready.”
Keeney got open in the left flat for a 5-yard TD pass from Cerreta on third-and-goal with 4:25 left in the quarter. Dustin McCrea of Alliance added the first of his two point-after kicks for the 7-0 lead.
“When the offense went out and scored on the first drive, that just gave the defense and extra boost,” Henkel said. “We knew we’d put some points up, and it was our job on defense to keep them out of the end zone.”
Henkel helped do that when he picked off a pass at his own 8 late in the first half.
The East increased its lead to 14-0 on its second possession of the second half by again driving 78 yards. This time East needed just six plays. Cerreta completed a pair of big passes, as he finished 10-of-12 for 109 yards.
He hit Keeney in the left flat, and the 6-foot-3, 230-pound tight end went 25 yards. Minerva’s Derrick McCann then made a nice grab over a defender on a 22-yard play over the middle.
The East running backs did the rest. GlenOak’s Mark Smith went 9 yards up the middle. Ramsey went 14 yards around right end. And Smith cut through the middle again, this time for 5 yards and a TD with 3:40 left in the third.
The West did hold the ball for nearly 17 minutes during the second half but could not score until taking advantage of a late East fumble.
“From the first day, we knew we had a good defense,” Henkel said. “And we wanted to get a shutout. We didn’t get the shutout, but we played a great game.”
Northwest receiver Vince Baiera caught a 14-yard TD pass from Central Catholic’s Chris Ainscough with 30 seconds left. Baiera had seven catches for 64 yards.
“We had a great bunch of guys,” Mauro said. “They played hard and didn’t give up. I’m proud of them for scoring at the end there and giving us chance on the on-side kick. They showed a lot of fight.”
Box Score
East 14, West 6
at Fawcett Stadium
West 0 0 0 6 — 6
East 7 0 7 0 — 14
First Quarter
E—Keeney 5 pass from Cerreta (McCrea kick)
Third Quarter
E—M.Smith 5 run (McCrea kick)
Fourth Quarter
W—Baiera 14 pass from Ainscough (kick failed)
A—8,000.
Game Stats
First Downs: West 17, East 9
Rushes-yards: West 30-21, East 26-29
Passing yards: West 111, East 117
Comp-Att-Int: West 14-32-1, East 11-14-0
Return Yards: West 60, East 27
Punts-Avg: West. 5-29.6, East 5-35.6
Fumbles-Lost: West 2-1, East 2-1
Penalties-Yards: West 3-32, East 5-85
Possession Time: West 28:08, East 19:52
Individual Stats
RUSHING—West, Calvert 5-22, Dibell 5-12, Dowling 2-6, Michel 11-5, Beachy 4-(minus 2), Ainscough 3-(minus 22). East, Ramsey 13-48, M.Smith 4-13, Stocker 1-2, Jackson 1-(minus 9), Husted 4-(minus 12), Cerreta 3-(minus 13).
PASSING—West, Michel 9-20-0-73, Ainscough 5-12-1-38. East, Cerreta 10-12-0-109, Husted 1-2-0-8.
RECEIVING—West, Baiera 7-64, Dibell 3-17, Calvert 2-14, Kleve 1-10, Sette 1-6. East, Keeney 4-51, McCann 2-30, Watts 2-25, Haddad 2-6, DeZordo 1-5.
Hoover High School’s Kyle Watts hauls in a 25-yard catch for the East All-stars on Saturday to put the ball deep into West territory. The East scored on the drive for the game’s first touchdown in what would be a 14-6 East victory.
NETWORK
Hoover Vikings Football
Hoover Vikings Football
2004 Repository East-West All-Star Football Game
