Blake Bledsoe showed he has quarterback greatness in his blood. Bledsoe -- a distant cousin of former NFL player Drew Bledsoe -- won East MVP honors, engineering a comeback to beat the West 13-12 at the East-West All-Star game on Saturday at Everett Memorial Stadium.
He's a quarterback at Central Valley in Spokane. Bledsoe was going to walk on at his cousin's alma mater -- Washington State -- but he recently changed his mind and will go to Santa Rosa (Calif.) Junior College. Bledsoe made two key plays in the final two minutes to lead the East to the win. He hit a 19-yard pass on a fourth-and-11 play, and then scored the winning touchdown on a 13-yard run with 1:40 remaining.
"We had practiced that play a lot, and that was the first time in the game I actually followed my blockers," Bledsoe told the Seattle Times. "The whole line just dominated on that play. I felt like I was playing pool the way I was bouncing off bumpers. I just tried to keep my head down and keep my feet moving."
Bledsoe was 10-of-18 passing for 88 yards. He also rushed for 38 yards.
The East coach, Greg Kittrell of Moses Lake, went out a winner. He resigned from his post last week to take an administrative job at the school.
Jake Frauenholtz, the Everett High School grad and Carroll (Mont.) College recruit caught three balls for 42 yards and returned an interception 34 yards to set up a touchdown to earn MVP honors for the West.
"Man, it was really surprising, to be honest with you," Frauenholtz told the Everett Herald. "I just wanted to come out in the game and try hard. Things just started working for me and going my way."
The West leads the series 17-14, but the East has won the last two. The West scored on its first possession, getting a 4-yard TD run by West Seattle's T.J. Lee. The extra point was blocked.
The East took a one-point lead in the second quarter as Bledsoe found 6-foot-6 Clayton Homme of Southridge for a 13-yard score. The West regained the lead in the third on a 25-yard pass from Nick Baker of Lake Stevens to A.J. Carroll of Meadowdale. A two-point conversion was no good.
More Football: Herd stands out at Earl Barden Classic
Steilacoom quarterback Greg Herd threw for a touchdown and ran for a second in the second half to lead the West to a 31-13 win at the Earl Barden Classic, the All-Star football game for small schools.
Herd, bound for Eastern Washington, passed for 134 yards and rushed for 70 to earn co-MVP honors. Receiver Derek Rice, who caught four passes for 63 yards and a score, shared offensive MVP honors with Herd.
The West was down 13-0 after the first quarter and 13-7 at halftime.
