RENO -- On a team loaded with stars, Douglas' Evan Bill was the guiding light for the West team at the 22nd annual Sertoma Classic.
"I didn't expect to do well at all," Bill said. "I didn't even know how much I was going to play. We had a lot of good players, Josh Barrett and guys like that. It was a surprise. I didn't know it was going to be like this."
Bill rushed for 28 yards and caught two passes for 84 yards, including a crowd rousing 61-yard touchdown pass, as the West blew out the East 56-6 on Friday night at Reno High's Foster Field. The 50-point margin of victory was the most lopsided in the game's history. The 62 combined points also broke a record for most points scored in the annual all-star game between Northern Nevada's top seniors.
Nobody was too surprised about the outcome. One look at the rosters for each team eluded to a dominating win for the West. But 56-6? Galena's Barrett Young, who played on the West, thought it could've been even worse.
"Actually, we expected to get 70 (points)," Young said. "At practice we really knew we had a good team. This is definitely the way I wanted to go out. To go out on top is nice."
Bill was named the West's Offensive Most Valuable Player. Truckee Kevin Schlesinger was named the game's overall MVP. He completed 4-of-5 passes for 96 yards and two touchdowns, including a 13-yarder to Josh Barrett in the first quarter that opened the scoring. The West put together more than 200 yards of total offense and scored seven touchdowns, three of them by Barrett.
The 6-foot-2 Reno High star also caught two touchdown passes, one of which went for 73 yards after pulling a nasty move near the sideline that had him split two defenders before cruising into the end zone. Barrett touched the ball only four times in the game and three of them went for touchdowns. However, he was snubbed for post game honors. It's OK. He gets to go to Arizona State next season on a football scholarship.
The West led 36-6 at halftime and went up 43-6 after Bill's 3-yard TD run with 7:07 remaining in the third quarter. The game was so one-sided that Young, who plays in the defensive backfield, was thinking about the irony of the entire situation.
"The guys on this team, we've been killing each other the last four years, just trying to beat up each other every time we played one another," Young said. "But we just came together and had a good time. There wasn't any beef out there with any of us or trash talking."
The reason why Young had so much time to reflect during the game was because the East never could put together much offense. It was held to only 63 yards of offense. Wooster quarterback Zac Bryson completed 6-of-11 passes for 37 yards and Spring Creek quarterback Michael Brouse 6-of-10 passes for 56 yards. Five players combined for minus 30 yards rushing for the East, which hasn't won a Sertoma Classic since 1999.
Carson's Chris Kotter, who was one of the top running backs in the Northern 4A this past season, only gained one yard on three carries. He caught two passes for eight yards. Senator teammate George Pincock only caught two passes for two yards. It was just that kind of night for the East.
The previously most lopsided game was in 2000, when the West beat the East 35-0. The previously highest scoring game came in 1992, when the two teams combined for 50 points. The West eclipsed that record all by itself Friday night.
