STOW: Coventry coach Ed Egan faced a decision Thursday in the seventh annual Thanks4Giving All-Star Football Game at Stow.
His West All-Star Team had the ball on its own 33-yard line on a 4th down-and-2 in the later part of the first quarter of a scoreless game with the East All-Star Team.
Egan called on Woodridge running back King Alfred Sanders, and the King didn’t disappoint, rushing the ball to his right and breaking five tackles before sprinting down the sideline for a 67-yard touchdown with 54 seconds to go in the first quarter.
The West never relinquished the lead and cruised to a 31-0 win on Thanksgiving Day in a game designed to raise money for charities and showcase top Summit County seniors.
“It took the whole team to take me to the end zone,” said Sanders, who finished with 129 yards on 14 carries. “I credit my linemen and the receivers for blocking for me.”
Egan praised Barberton’s Dominic Massarelli and Trenton Stefan, Firestone’s Alec Kelley, Cuyahoga Falls’ Adam Riegler, Revere’s Nicholas Kelly and Woodridge’s Kasey Kelleher and Kyle Lamson for their blocking.
Brandon Bischof of St. Vincent-St. Mary and Sanders combined to give the West a 14-0 lead with 4:09 to go in the second quarter after Bischof returned an interception 60 yards for a touchdown and Sanders crossed the goal line on a 2-point conversion.
“I saw the receiver go out in the flat, and I looked at the quarterback’s eyes,” Bischof said. “He was staring him down the whole time. He threw the ball, and I tried to make a play.”
The West took a 21-0 lead into halftime following a 71-yard touchdown pass from Buchtel’s Pyrce Taylor to Coventry’s Dusty Burkhart with 1:23 left in the second.
“Before the play, Dusty said: ‘I will be there, and just put the ball out there,’ ” Taylor said. “As soon as I saw him, I just let the ball go, and I knew he was going to go get it.”
Burkhart called the all-star game experience “awesome.”
“This week I made some friendships that I never thought I would have made,” he said.
Woodridge’s Sharif Howard kicked a 39-yard field goal in the third, and Firestone’s Jordan Jones tossed a 7-yard touchdown pass to Barberton’s Khalil Dunem in the fourth.
“This was a great experience to meet all of these new people and have fun,” Jones said. “The practices were a lot of fun. On that touchdown pass, I knew Khalil was way taller than the defender on him, so when I threw the ball I knew he was going to catch it.”
Dunem, who is 6-foot-2½, said he “felt pretty confident” about making the catch.
Bischof, Firestone’s Zuriel Sanders and Woodridge’s Jacob Mally each snagged an interception for the West, and Walsh Jesuit’s Alec Wallace and Garfield’s David Gilcreast both recorded an interception for the East.
“I am glad that we won my last game ever, and it was cool to play with people I had never played with before,” Mally said. “It was cool to have so many guys from my Woodridge team with me too.”
Norton’s Nick Farmer rushed 14 times for 74 yards for the West. Garfield’s Gilcreast (three receptions, 108 yards) and William Shropshire (six carries, 34 yards) each stood out for the East, along with Stow linebacker Joe Gibbs.
Zuriel Sanders made a shutout-saving tackle in the closing seconds of the fourth for the West after Gilcreast caught a Shropshire pass and gained 65 yards.
“It was special to be able to play a final game with a lot of my Firestone teammates and a lot of other great players from a lot of good schools,” Sanders said.
“It was fun to see us all come together and make plays together to win the game. This is our last go-round before we all head to college, so to have fun and build new friendships is awesome.”
Egan said Aryc Clayton and Kobie Booker of Barberton stood out on the West defense along with Norton’s Matt Bradshaw, Buchtel’s Shaun Cooper and James Newell, Falls’ Sam Forbes, St. V-M’s Eric Bentley, Woodridge’s Dontae Craft and Hayden Gerdes, Revere’s Tom Baker, Firestone’s Bo Covington and Copley’s Zafeer Muhammad.
“This was an awesome experience to deal with true all-stars,” Egan said.
Michael Beaven can be reached at 330-996-3829 or mbeaven@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the #ABJVarsity high school blog at www.ohio.com/preps. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MBeavenABJ.