Silver escapes with win in Sertoma Classic

RENO - Steve Struzyk and his all-star football team dodged a bullet.

"We were debating on faking it. It kind of lucked out for us," Struzyk said about punting deep in their territory with two minutes left in the Sertoma all-star classic.

A roughing the kicker penalty followed by unsportsmanlike conduct sealed the Silver's 17-14 win over the Blue Friday night at Mackay Stadium.

"It's just a joy all week coaching these kids," said Struzyk, whose Galena football team won the regional last season. "What an honor it is to be part of."

While both teams couldn't produce a consistent running game, they opted for the air where the Silver capitalized first with a 68-yard pass from Dayton's Travis Wood to Fallon's Joe Leon on the first play of the game.

"It was a pretty close game, but we got it done," Wood said. "I thought I would do all right, but we ran a lot of great plays. We had some great tight ends and wide receivers."

Wood had to pump-fake the defensive line in order to swing a pass to Leon.

"I was just there and got it to him on a swing pass, and he did the rest," Wood said.

After Chris Ewald nailed a 21-yard field goal to end the first half and put the Silver up 10-0, the Blue team took advantage of penalties to score two straight touchdowns.

Sparks' Alex Toler connected with Bishop Manogue's Christipher Gurries for a 12-yard score after the Blue picked up three first downs from two offside penalties and one facemask. Toler's touchdown pass cut the deficit to 10-7 with 7:58 left in the third quarter.

The Blue's defense helped the offense generate another score as it forced the Silver to punt on the fourth play. Backed up in Silver territory, a botched snap gave the Blue the ball on the Silver's 14-yard line.

Four plays later, Reed's Tony Maldonado scored on a one-yard keeper with 3:51 left in the quarter, giving the Blue a 14-10 advantage.

The passing game played to Silver's favor again on its first play of the ensuing series.

Battle Mountain's Sotero Itza lofted a 56-yard pass over the middle of the field to Dayton's Erik Hopper, who hauled in an over-the-back catch to the Blue's 3 yard line. Leon ran the next play into the end zone with 3:12 left in the third.