Red beats Blue in all-star game
Don Ketchum
The Arizona Republic
Jun. 8, 2004 01:58 PM
CASA GRANDE – After a sluggish effort for most of the
first half, the Red squad put things together and gradually wore down
the Blue 22-7, in the annual Arizona Coaches Association All-Star
Football Game for Class 5A and 4A schools at Casa Grande High School on
Friday night.
Made up mainly of players from the East Valley and
southern Arizona, the Red made things happen with an aggressive defense
and a workmanlike offensive effort led by quarterback Max Hall of 5A
runner-up Mesa Mountain View.
The Red grabbed a 14-0 lead at halftime. The Blue
pulled to within 14-7 with 10:26 left in the third and appeared headed
for a tie, but a drive stalled at the Red 20 midway through the period.
The Red then went on a 79-yard, 10-play scoring drive
to regain momentum with 3:22 left in the third. Tucson Sunnyside’s
Zach Samarano
scored his second touchdown of the night, charging up the middle for 3
yards. After a brilliant scramble, Hall found Desert Vista tight end
Zach Miller for a two-point conversion pass.
As one might expect with only about a week’s worth of
work, the early part of the game was sloppy on the part of both sides.
It did feature some heavy hitting, particularly on the
part of the Red, which was led by Miller, also a linebacker, and Mesa
Red Mountain defensive lineman Aaron Fernandez. Miller was named the
game's MVP, was The Arizona Republic’s Big School Player of the Year and
is headed to Arizona State.
The Red had a 53-yard touchdown pass from Hall to
Tempe Marcos de Niza’s Cody Hale called back because of a holding call
with 10:48 left in the first quarter.
Hale began to tip the scales in the Red’s favor with
6:40 left in the second quarter on a punt return of about 50 yards to
the Blue 27.
Samarano put the Red on the board with a 1-yard dive with 3:12 left before halftime. The PAT was off-target.
A 35-yard pass from Hall to Miller, with a
personal-foul penalty tacked on against the Blue, had the Red knocking
on the door again with a little more than 2 minutes left in the half.
Hall found Mountain Pointe tight end Chris Richardson
for a 3-yard scoring toss with 1:17 left. Samarano ran for the two-point
conversion and a 14-0 lead. |