West squad defeats East, 42-30, in 8-Man Division-I All-Star Game
Several Lyon County League players shine for East squad
By Michael Ashford
Monday, June 11, 2007
Things couldn’t have started any better for Matt Coursen and the East squad in the 8-Man Division I All-Star Game in Beloit on Saturday.
Too bad it didn’t end that way.
Coursen and the East team struck for a touchdown on the first play from scrimmage to jump out to the early lead, but the West squad, behind the bruising running of Pretty Prairie’s Tyler Wilder, came back to take the victory, 42-30.
It all started so well for the East, too.
In a play designed to catch the West squad off guard, Coursen lined up in the backfield with East quarterback Dominic Niewald of St. John’s while Lebo’s Bryant Linsey lined up to the left.
With the snap, Linsey ran a post to distract the cornerback, while Coursen faked like he was going to block the end, then took off running down the right hash. With the West defense expecting run, Coursen got behind the safety and hauled in the pass from Niewald for a 59-yard touchdown strike to open the game.
“We were hoping they would think we were going to run the ball, run the ball, run the ball,” said Coursen, a first-team All-State selection and The Gazette’s area player of the year, “and we wanted them to bring their guys up toward the line to play the run. That’s exactly what they did, and Dominic threw a perfect pass. The pass couldn’t have been any better — I was in a full-out sprint when I caught it.”
The West scored the next three touchdowns, though, and thanks to four rushing TDs by Wilder — he ended the game with 34 carries and 131 yards — the West squad took home the 42-30 victory.
Coursen, who has signed to play football at Emporia State, finished the game with a team-high 102 receiving yards on five catches plus another 66 rushing yards on 10 carries.
“Overall, I played pretty good,” he said. “In an All-Star game, it’s hard to key on one person. There are just so many good guys.
“We still lost — that kind of stunk.”
Coursen and Linsey were just two of eight players from the Lyon County League that played for the East squad. The others were: Flinthills’ Jimmy Michal, Hartford’s Andrew Weiderholt, Lebo’s Taylor Barker, Madison’s Jordan Stout and Jacob Stewart, Marais des Cygnes Valley’s David Becker and Waverly’s Heath Redding.
“It was fun out there. There were eight out of the 20 guys on our team from the Lyon County League, and it was great to spend a week out there with those guys getting to know them a little better,” said Coursen, who played with fellow Emporia State signees Linsey and Barker (football) and Stout (basketball). “It was fun to get some playing time in with some guys I’m going to play with at ESU.”
Linsey got into the scoring act in the fourth quarter when he hauled in a 15-yard pass from Niewald that made it 28-24 in favor of the West, but the East would get no closer. Linsey finished with five catches for 42 yards.
“Bryant Linsey had a great game,” Coursen said.
Stout had a solid game playing safety on defense — “I think Jordan Stout had more tackles than anybody,” Coursen said. — and caught one pass for 11 yards on offense, while Waverly’s Heath Redding converted a two-point conversion on a run in the third quarter.
8-Man Division I All-Star Game
Saturday in Beloit
West 42, East 30
East 8 0 8 14 — 30
West 8 8 12 14 — 42
First quarter
E — Coursen 59 pass from Niewald (Niewald run), 11:48.
W — Wilder 5 run (Wilder run), 1:29.
Second quarter
W — Wilder 7 run (Sterling run), 1:03.
Third quarter
W — Hoffman 8 run (pass failed), 9:58.
E — Niewald 2 run (Redding run), 7:00.
W — Wilder 3 run (run failed), 1:19.
Fourth quarter
E — Linsey 15 pass from Niewald (Niewald run), 5:57.
W — Lager 42 run (pass failed), 3:40.
W — Wilder 7 run (Trapp pass from Hiebert), 1:47.
E — Niewald 7 run (run failed), 0:33.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — E: Niewald 16-75, Coursen 10-66, Stout 3-18, Hoesli 2-2, Team 1-(-5). W: Wilder 34-131, Hoffman 9-35, Pahl 4-5, Goerzen 3-5, Hiebert 3-19, Lager 1-42, Sherrill 1-10, Forester 1-4, Broz 1-0.
PASSING — E: Niewald 13-23-1-162. W: Hoffman 8-13-0-82, Hiebert 2-6-1-10.
RECEIVING — E: Coursen 5-102, Linsey 5-42, Stout 1-11, Hoesli 1-4, Redding 1-3. W: Forester 6-55, Goerzen 2-20, Hiebert 2-17.
PUNTING — E: Niewald 4-33.8. W: None.
E W
First downs 15 21
Rushes-yards 32-156 57-251
Passing yards 162 92
Comp-Att-Int 13-23-1 10-19-1
Total plays-yards 55-318 76-343
Fumbles-lost 5-1 2-0
Penalties-yards 8-70 4-25
Punts-avg. 4-33.8 0-0