Published: June 28, 2008 11:29 pm            

South rallies to win All-Star game

TERRE HAUTE — The play that probably determined the outcome of Saturday night’s Wabash Valley Football Coaches Association All-Star Game in Memorial Stadium will never show up on any stat sheet.

But a block by Terre Haute South’s Brock Lough to spring his former high school teammate and future Indiana State University teammate Koby Kraemer on a punt return early in the third quarter — a hit that had to be heard by every one of the approximately 3,000 people in the stands — was cited by many people afterward as a big key in the first-ever victory by the South all-stars, who eventually made their second comeback for a 32-27 decision.

The first two quarters couldn’t have gone much worse for South, which trailed 14-0 and didn’t have a first down until the final minute of the second quarter. Then, when South put together a last-minute drive to the 1-yard line, its bid for a touchdown to end the half was thwarted when Casey’s Luc Yates ripped the ball out of the hands of the South ball carrier inches short of the goal line.

“What a heartbreaker,” South coach Steve Weber of Linton said after the game when looking back at that play. “We had a lot of plays [in the first half] that could’ve went [for big gains], but we just weren’t connecting. We were dropping the ball on the carpet, or it was going off our fingertips. But then we just started to make plays.”

The South comeback started with a three-and-out defensive series, and it also included a crucial injury from North’s standpoint.

Marshall quarterback Travis Johnson, whose running and throwing had keyed North’s first-half offensive dominance, has been described as a quarterback with linebacker tendencies, and on the first play of the second half those instincts proved costly.

“We had a little run to the left,” Johnson explained after the game, his left arm wrapped. “I tried to help move the pile … and I looked down and my arm was hanging there. Some bad karma, I guess.”

“We played extremely well the first half,” said North coach Chris Barrett of Terre Haute North. “Offensively we had about three turnovers that stopped ourselves, and then in the third quarter the wheels fell off … and our quarterback gets [what was thought to be] a broken wrist.”

The North punt went to Kraemer, who immediately had a potential tackler near him. But so was Lough.

“I was trying to stiff-arm that guy. He had a hold of me, but I saw Brock coming out of the corner of my eye,” Kraemer said.

“I missed a sack right before that,” recalled Lough, “and I was pretty upset. I saw the guy had a hold of Koby, and that he wasn’t looking at me.

“Koby always says I don’t hit anybody, so I made sure he saw that.”

“I felt bad for that kid [trying to tackle me], because he didn’t see [Lough’s block] coming,” Kraemer said.

Kraemer wound up dancing his way 34 yards to the North 39-yard line. On the seventh play of that drive he got open for a 5-yard touchdown pass from Red Hill’s Chris Wampler, and South was on its way.

After another three-and-out series for North, Kraemer got free again, this time for a 35-yard bomb from Palestine-Hutsonville’s Ryan Roberts, and Roberts’ second straight 2-point conversion run put South ahead 16-14. Two plays after that, an interception by South Putnam’s Josh Sanders was one play ahead of a 35-yard strike from Wampler to his high school teammate Brad Padgett, and a third conversion by Roberts had South ahead 24-14 after less than nine minutes of the third quarter.

That interception was thrown by Cumberland’s Kenny Flood, who was pressed into service as his team’s emergency quarterback. And then Flood became the story of the game for awhile.

He took the North team 65 yards in nine plays, completing a 23-yard third-down throw to North Putnam’s Kyle Rooker and then getting a 27-yard touchdown pass when Terre Haute North’s Brandon Dorsett outmaneuvered a defender for a spectacular catch at the goal line. That cut the lead to 24-20.

When North got the ball back again, Flood marched the team 66 yards in seven plays. A 34-yard completion to Northview’s Jered Timm was the big play, and Flood scrambled twice in a row — the last for 14 yards — to the touchdown that put North ahead 27-24 with 8:29 left in the game.

“Travis came out hurting, and John [Garvin of Terre Haute North] couldn’t throw [long because of a shoulder injury]. So I was like ‘Oh, great’ [when I had to play quarterback]. I hadn’t thrown since the end of the [high school] season,” Flood said afterward.

“We had no running plays [”He had like five reps all week in practice,” Barrett noted] because I didn’t know them, so I just passed on every down, or scrambled when nothing was open.”

Flood had been Cumberland’s quarterback, but wasn’t going to play there for the all-star week. “[Receiver] was what they told me,” he said. “I went out and bought these gloves [to catch the ball] and everything, and then I didn’t get to use them in the second half.”

“Kenny came in and did a great job,” Barrett said, “and when we got down, we showed a lot of character coming back.”

South had one comeback left too, and this one was in Roberts’ hands. On the 75-yard, nine-play drive that gave the lead back to South, Roberts ran six times — including a 35-yarder — and occasionally lined up in an unorthodox backfield that offered little deception.

“That was ‘snap it to him and let him run,’ ” cracked Sullivan offensive lineman Mike Market of that formation, which worked for the fourth-down touchdown run with 3:45 left. “That’s when the big guys show the way for me,” Roberts agreed.

North picked up a pair of first downs, but then suffered an interception — by Kraemer — with less than a minute to play.

“Coach [Mark] Raetz [of Terre Haute South] told me if the situation called for it, I might have to play some defense,” said Kraemer, who was just about as busy with the all-stars as he had been for the Braves, “and he signalled me in the very last series.”

Kraemer’s finish to the game was a little better than his start. “It couldn’t have got any worse,” he said.

He fumbled on the opening kickoff, thanks to a big hit by North Putnam’s J.T. Francies and a recovery by Casey kicker Josh Dunckel, and three plays later North was in the lead after a touchdown pass from Johnson to Timm.

South got a pair of fumble recoveries by Lough — setting an all-star record — and another from North Central’s Jared Ross that kept North from taking more advantage of South’s early offensive woes. But between the two Lough recoveries, North also put together a 73-yard, 12-play drive capped by Rooker’s 2-yard touchdown run. And then there was the devastating end of the half for South.

“[North] had all the momentum, but we felt like we could win if we just played our game,” Kraemer said later.

“We started off kind of slow,” added Roberts. “But after Wampler hooked up with Koby in the end zone, everything opened up for us.”

Lough’s block was vital, Weber said, adding, “There were a ton of plays that turned it around, but he was one of the playmakers … what a great effort. These guys could’ve gone in [at halftime] and folded up. They didn’t fold.”

“A lot of kids made a lot of good plays,” said Barrett, who added that Lough’s block “definitely” helped fire up the South sideline. “And then there was Koby being Koby,” Barrett added.

n Awards — Five different all-stars earned scholarships for their work during the week, one of them getting a second for his family.

Roberts and Rooker were awarded the Hall of Fame Scholarships, selected by their teammates.

Varda Scholarships, picked by the coaches, went to Kye Butler of Cumberland and Ethan Brewer of Linton; Brewer’s older brother Adam was a Hall of Fame winner two years ago. And Kyle Fahey of Rockville was the first winner of the Brett Eitel Memorial Scholarship for his academic work.

Fahey’s high school teammate Zach Clapp, who suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament during the recent baseball season, was one of the North captains.



South All-Stars 32, North All-Stars 27

North 14 0 6 7 — 27

South 0 0 24 8 — 32

North — Jered Timm (Northview) 18 pass from Travis Johnson (Marshall), 10:51 1st; Josh Dunckel (Casey) kick

North — Kyle Rooker (North Putnam) 2 run, 0:16 1st; Dunckel kick

South — Koby Kraemer (Terre Haute South) 5 pass from Chris Wampler (Red Hill), 7:01 3rd; Ryan Roberts (Palestine-Hutsonville) run

South — Kraemer 35 pass from Roberts, 3:32 3rd; Roberts run

South — Brad Padgett (Red Hill) 35 pass from Wampler, 3:08 3rd; Roberts run

North — Brandon Dorsett (Terre Haute North) 27 pass from Kenny Flood (Cumberland), 0:43 3rd; kick blocked

North — Flood 14 run, 8:29 4th; Dunckel kick

South — Roberts 1 run, 3:45 4th; Nick Straka (Red Hill) run

North South

First downs 16 13

Rushes-yards 26-48 32-137

Passing yards 260 148

Comp-Att-Int 20-34-2 9-22-0

Return yards 20 50

Punts-avg 3-26 6-29

Fumbles-lost 6-3 5-2

Penalties-yards 2-19 2-10

Individual statistics

Rushing — North: Rooker 10-25, Flood 4-15, Jake Peters (Cumberland) 3-6, Grant Mitchell (Riverton Parke) 3-6, Johnson 4-4, John Garvin (Terre Haute North) 2-minus 8. South: Roberts 12-75, Wampler 6-22, Paul Miller (Olney) 5-15, Josh Kincaid (Robinson) 4-9, Straka 2-8, Kraemer 3-8.

Passing — North: Flood 12-18-2, 146 yards; Johnson 8-14-0, 114; Garvin 0-1-0; Rooker 0-1-0. South: Wampler 8-17-0, 113; Roberts 1-5-0, 35.

Receiving — North: Dorsett 6-56, Daniel Martin (Rockville) 4-54, Timm 3-71, Alan Wolter (Marshall) 3-31, Rooker 2-31, Kye Butler (Cumberland) 2-17. South: Kraemer 6-87, B.Padgett 1-35, Michael Woodsmall (North Central) 1-20, Zach McVaigh (Olney) 1-6.

        

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