By Chris Rossetti, www.d9sports.com
Special to MaxPreps.com
ALTOONA, Pa. – With weather that was for the birds, it was Marvase Byrd who provided the punch in a 10-0 West win over the East in the weather-shortened eighth edition of the Pennsylvania State Football Coaches Association East-West High School football All-Star game Saturday at Altoona’s Mansion Park.
Bryd, from McKeesport High School, provided the game’s lone touchdown on an 84-yard run in the final minute of the first half and ended up leading all rushers with 97 yards on three carries in a game that was called because of lighting and additional inclement weather with 7:18 left in the third quarter.
“The run was cool, but I wanted more,” Byrd, who is headed to Akron, said. “I would have liked to finish the game. I would have like to get more yards. But the East can’t mess with the West.”
Byrd’s sentiments on finishing the game seemed to be shared by players from both sides, who were visibly upset when the game was called at 9:29 after a delay of 1:20 minutes. But game organizers made the decision with the safety of spectators and players in mind.
“Obviously, you come here all week and you want to play a full game,” West and Gateway head coach Terry Smith said. “It’s a tough decision, but you have to look out for the safety of the players and the spectators.”
Prior to the bad weather moving in, the game was a defensive struggle with neither team able to get any sustained offense after a game-opening 12-play, 74-yard drive that ended in a 27-yard field goal by South Fayette’s Drew Hareza for the West squad with 7:30 left in the first quarter.
After that drive, the West was across midfield just once - when it started a drive at the East 49 and got one yard – and managed just 28 yards until Byrd’s late touchdown run.
The East couldn’t get anything going either gaining just 60 yards on its first five drives of the opening half crossing midfield just once before immediately going back to the wrong side of its on a penalty.
“That’s how we do it in the WPIAL (the district that surrounds Pittsburgh and is the predominant district in the western half of the state),” Smith said. “We play good, sound, physical defense and get to the football fast. Ten-0 scores aren’t uncommon in the WPIAL.”
The West’s opening field-goal drive featured a strong running game led by Wilmington’s Chris Burns, who is headed to Pitt, a couple of big passes from Plum’s Kyle Simmons, who is going to Lafayette, and two fantastic catches by Carrick’s James Jett, who is headed to Mercyhurst.
Burns ran the ball four times for 22 yards during the opening drive including a 19-yard scamper that moved the ball to the East 44. He finished the game with nine carries for 43 yards and had two catches for 10 yards.
Simmons, meanwhile, completed 3 of 7 passes, including 3 of 5 after missing on his first two, for 47 yards on the opening drive including a 28-yard strike to Jett that put the ball at the East 14. Simmons finished the game going 4-for-10 for 50 yards, while Jett made two great catches on the opening drive for 40 yards, his only two grabs of the game.
But the drive stalled leading to the chip-shot field goal from Hareza, who is headed to Old Dominion. Hareza also did the punting in the game and averaged 44 yards on three boots including two inside the 20-yards line.
After that drive the defenses took over led by Serra Catholic’s Isaiah Jackson (9 tackles, 1 TFL) for the West and Hazelton’s Rich Matz (6 tackles) for the East.
But the West gave itself some breathing room right before the half on one of the most unlikely plays of the game.
Facing a second-and-15 from its own 16, Smith called a draw to Byrd, who broke into the clear down the near sideline outrunning the East defenders for the 84-yard touchdown run.
“Coach told me I was going to run for it, that I was going to break it,” Byrd said. “I hit the hole quick and got outside and did what I do.”
Smith said he wasn’t surprised Byrd broke the touchdown run.
“We were close throughout the half,” Smith said. “We had a couple of runs if we had hit the right gap we could have broken. Marvase hit the right gap, and he is the fastest guy on the field. No one was going to catch him.”
The East tried to answer the touchdown on the final drive of the half moving from of its own 18 to the West 46 thanks to a 12-yard pass from West Scranton’s Matt McGloin to Liberty’s Joey Orlando and a 24-yard pass from McGloin to Orlando. Then on the last play of the half, McGloin found Conestoga’s Nihja White with a 36-yard bomb to the West 10, but William Penn’s Mike Kinard made the tackle keeping White from the end zone.
The East then put together its best drive of the game on the opening drive of the second half going from its own 21 to the West 10 on 11 plays thanks in large part to a 31-yard pass from Downingtown West’s Nolan Kearny to Joey Orlando. Orlando almost took the ball to the house but couldn’t keep his balance and went down at the West 48.
But the long drive stalled when White was dropped four a 4-yard loss at the West 10 on a swing pass on third-and-5 from the 6-yard line. Justin Myer of Manheim then shanked a 27-yard field goal attempt keeping the East off the board with 7:18 left in the third quarter.
It was at that point that the officials spotted lighting in the area and got the players off the field. About 40 minutes later both team returned to the field and were warming up when lighting struck again sending them sent off the field for a second time. The teams then returned to the field about 20 minutes later and appeared ready to resume the game, but just as they were warming up, officials decided the upcoming forecast called for more bad weather and halted the contest.
“When you have been coaching as long as I have, you take them (wins) however they come,” Smith said. “We will take it. We earned it. If the game had continued, our kids would have been ready to play the other 19 minutes.”
NOTES – The victory was the second in a row for the West, who now trails the East 5-3 in the series … The decision to call the game turned out to be a good one considering another bad storm hit the Altoona area less than an hour after the game was called … The teams wore the colors of the respective NFL teams from each side of the state with the East wearing Philadelphia Eagles green and the West sporting Pittsburgh Steelers yellow/gold … Earlier in the week, seven former All-Star game participants received alumni scholarships totaling $15,000. The scholarships winners were Jeremy Block ($3,000), Dennis Poland ($3,000), Rich Rossi ($2,500), Vinnie Diana ($2,000), Tyler Gillmen ($1,500), Matthew Kikta ($1,000) and Andrew Pianetti ($1,000) … Fans were entertained at halftime by Blue Sapphire PJ Maierhofer the feature twirler for the Penn State Blue Band, who is the reigning Grand National Collegiate Twirling Champion and World Open 2-baton Champion. It was a homecoming for the Altoona native.