A Fine Shrine Finish
C.J. Moore
Monday, July 28, 2008
Mother nature provided quite the show Saturday night and almost sent everyone home early from the Shine Bowl at Welch Stadium.
Lightning bolts and rainbows filled the sky, but thankfully, the weather passed and the two teams provided a grand finale in the West’s 29-28 victory over the East.
“I’d have been mad if we didn’t get to finish that,” Lyndon’s Quinn Kirsop said.
Kirsop starred on the losing team’s defense, forcing a fumble to go along with two pass breakups. While the West put up big offensive numbers — 262 passing yards thanks to a no-huddle spread offense — the East defense and special teams took advantage of mistakes in the fourth quarter.
Emporia State-bound safety Derek Rempe intercepted a Brett Steven’s pass and returned the ball to the one-yard line to set up a Jason Spradling touchdown to tie the game at 21.
The East stopped the West’s following drive and a bad snap on the punt forced punter Anthony Cantele to try to shovel-pass the ball forward. His pass ended up in the hands of Chris Rebant, who ran 25 yards untouched for the go-ahead touchdown.
After the East stuffed the West again, another bad snap did not allow Rebant to punt again and the East had the ball at the West 21 yard line with 3:39 left.
After failing to kick a field goal, the West got one last shot trailing by seven. On fourth and ten of the West’s final drive, Cole Cherryholmes’ pass fell incomplete and the East began to celebrate.
But a flag halted the celebration and a roughing the passer call gave the West a second chance. Cherryholmes capitalized. Cherryholmes’ 17-yard pass with 20 seconds left pulled the West to within one point.
West coach Gary Guzman decided to go for two and the win, and Cherryholmes completed a pass in the corner of the end zone to the West’s MVP, Mykael Thompson.
“After the two punts, it was like going from the lowest low to the highest high,” Chase County’s Brian Palermo said. “You couldn’t ask for a better ending. Once we saw the play go dead, our hearts kind of sunk to our stomachs and then we saw the flag and they called a penalty on them and it was huge. We went from fire out to fired up.”
It was the third straight victory for the West, who came in as the favorite because of the region’s recent success in state championship games and in the Shrine Bowl.
“We definitely didn’t play bad,” Kirsop said. “We gave them a run for their money, that’s for sure. All we were hearing all week was, ‘oh, the West is stacked. The West is loaded.’ Everybody’s nervous before a football game. I guarantee you they were nervous too. That’s just how it works. We came out and we gave them hell.”
The East matched the West’s flare with a grind-it-out style that featured a mostly running attack. Emporia’s Edd Noonan was the perfect back for the team’s style. Noonan rushed for a team-leading 44 yards.
“I was pretty consistent,” Noonan said. “There was really no big busts, but I never got stuck.”
Noonan and his teammates didn’t seem too bummed after the game. It might have helped that Noonan was surrounded by a pack of coeds.
“It’s been a great experience for me and something I’ll remember the rest of my life,” he said. “You just have to remember it’s for the kids. No matter what the scoreboard says, it’s for the kids. It was good either way.”
Local talents Noonan and Kirsop will continue to play next season — Noonan at Coffeyville and Kirsop at Hutchinson. For Palermo, this was his final football game, as he plans to walk on in baseball at the University of Kansas next year. This wasn’t a bad way to go out.
“For a small-town kid like myself, you go from playing in front of a couple hundred people to playing in front of 10,000,” Palermo said, “and we got treated like kings all week.”
Shrine Bowl
WEST 29, EAST 28
W E
First downs 21 9
Rushes-yards 33-87 45-126
Passing yards 262 100
Comp-Att-Int 20-41-3 6-13-1
Total plays-yards 74-349 58-226
Fumbles-lost 5-1 2-2
Penalties-yards 5-30 3-25
Punts-avg 3-13.7 3-41
Time of possession 21:51 26:09
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING—W: Braxton (Salina Central) 12-52, Cherryholmes (Remington) 3-15, Horesky (Hoisington) 1-13, Dold (Garden Plain) 6-11, Thompson (Dodge City) 1-9, Steven (Wichita Carroll) 5-6, Ungles (Andale) 2-4, Bach (Liberal) 1-1, Team 2-(-24). E: Noonan (Emporia) 12-44, Spradling (Louisburg) 13-39, Bennett (Girard) 8-20, Wilson (Pittsburg) 11-17, McConniff (SM Miege) 1-6.
PASSING—W: Cherryholmes (Remington) 14-25-1-154, Steven (Wichita Carroll) 6-14-1-108, Cantele (Wichita Kapaun) 0-1-1-0, Team 0-1-0-0. E: McConniff (SM Miege) 4-7-0-81, Bennett (Girard) 2-5-0-19, Wilson (Pittsburg) 0-1-1-0.
RECEIVING—W: Ungles (Andale) 5-59, Holt (Great Bend) 5-39, Thompson (Dodge City), 4-67, Wedel (Sacred Heart) 3-32, Braxton (Salina Central) 1-43, Horesky (Hoisington) 1-13, Kamm (Junction City) 1-9. E: Luther (Troy) 2-44, Ginavan (Olathe South) 1-30, Seifert (Riverton) 1-14, Noonan (Emporia) 1-7, Murray (SM Northwest) 1-5.
PUNTING—W: Cantele (Wichita Kapaun) 3-13.7. E: Bennett (Girard) 3-41.
MISSED FIELD GOALS—W: Cantele (Wichita Kapaun) 47 (WL). E: Ginavan (Olathe South) 47 (WL), 32 (WR).
SCORING SUMMARY
West 0 13 8 8 — 29
East 0 7 7 14 — 28
Second quarter
W—Braxton 43 pass from Steven (Cantele kick), 8:37
E—Wilson 1 run (Ginavan kick), 2:29
W—Thompson 29 pass from Steven (kick failed), 0:36
Third quarter
E—Bennett 1 run (Ginavan kick), 5:53
W—Thompson 31 pass from Cherryholmes (Dold run), 0:00
Fourth quarter
E—Spradling 1 run (Ginavan kick), 6:27
E—Rebant 25 interception return (Ginavan kick), 4:31
W—Ungles 17 pass from Cherryholmes (Thompson pass from Cherryholmes), 0:20
A—6,750.
peterkeating (anonymous) says...
Moore's style lends itself to this story. You can definitely tell that CJ will be a talent who connects with the people of Emporia. His ability to speak to the everyman, his simple prose that lack both flash and decoration, speak to the grind-it-out style of football which he witnessed. Moore's user friendly titles and introductions will connect with the average sports fan, and draw them in to his homey, somewhat quaint, journalistic repertoire. Moore's writing will resonate with a mass audience, from those who want to read about Emporia sports to those who are just looking for your run-of-the-mill sports columns. The Gazette has added a fine talent, who's social commentary transcends his subject matter, bravo.
July 28, 2008 at 5:24 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )