East topples West, 28-19

With just less than five minutes to go in the 41st annual Tulare-Kings All-star football game, the East All-stars were clinging to a two-point lead.

Immediately after the West pulled within two, it recovered its second onside kick of the half and was in prime position to take a crucial late-game lead.

But, after the officals ruled the West’s recovery was legal, they overturned their initial call, ruling the kick nicked a West All-star in the hip before it went the legal 10 yards, negating the recovery.

Minutes later, the East capitalized on the referees’ decision in the form of a Joey Avila 34-yard touchdown run to seal a 28-19 victory.

East coach Jeremy Blackwell and his coaching staff breathed a giant sigh of relief once the officals corrected their mistake, but he felt his coaching counterpart ignored a pre-game agreement in attempting those onside kicks.

“I was disgusted by the first one,” Blackwell said. “Again it goes back to the other (coach) telling me that he wasn’t going to do anything screwy on special teams and then he did. We were ready for the second one and I was nervous because they did recover, but our entire coaching staff and our entire sideline saw the ball bounce off the other guy’s hip.

“We got lucky because they were really moving the football and they had momentum on their side. Sometimes the ball really does bounce your way.”

Avila’s touchdown punctuated a drive that featured him bludgeoning the West defense on nearly every play. His primary goal was to merely get a first down and run out the clock, but Blackwell couldn’t contain his emotions when he broke into the secondary.

“On that play, he went straight behind the left tackle and then he pulled back and I was like, ‘just go, man, you’ve just got to get a first (down),”’ he said. “He just slipped and found some little seam inside of there and took off and I think I just about beat him to the goal line. I was sprinting as fast as I could.”

This broke the West’s back after it had controlled the fourth quarter. Minutes earlier, following a crucial red-zone pass breakup by Monache’s Josue Fernandez to kill an 84-yard drive, West defensive back Koye Brown made a diving interception to keep his team’s hopes alive. West running back Bladimir Cervantes scored from 10 yards out a few plays later to make it 21-19.

Things started out much better for the West, as it held the East nearly yard-less in the first quarter and took a 6-0 lead.

“We actually saw a defense that we didn’t expect to see,” Blackwell said. “But we adjusted pretty well. I thought in the second quarter when they (his defense) started bringing the wood, we showed some life.”

That life translated into points with five minutes left in the half when Strathmore senior quarterback Jake Duffin, who was rotating with Woodlake signal caller Thomas Navarro, entered the game on third and goal and connected with Eric Hofstee for a touchdown to put the East ahead 7-6.

Immediately after the ensuing kickoff, Fernandez forced and recovered a fumble and set the East up at the West’s nine-yard line. Navarro then scored on a quarterback draw from four yards out to give the East a 14-6 halftime lead.

Fernandez, who also intercepted a pass to set up the East’s third touchdown, in the third quarter, credited some infectious coaching in aiding the defense’s stops deep in their own territory.

“That was coaching from my high school; that was something we emphasized,” Fernandez said. “I tried to spread it around to my teammates here on the East team. I think we had really good red-zone stops. That helped us win the game.”

AJ Knight also recorded a red-zone interception, while Duffin and Hofstee connected on two scores.

Blackwell was proud that his team ended their high school careers as winners, saying that his side’s talent overcame any adjustments the West squad attempted to make.

“They’re great football players and they know how to win,” he said. “We didn’t really make adjustments on defense. We had promised the other coaching staff that we wouldn’t stunt, blitz or really do anything (beyond a base defense). We didn’t and we lived up to our word and then we started to notice that they were actually shading and doing things they said they wouldn’t. But they were playing to win and so were we and we had better athletes.”