South edges North 7-3 in Shrine Bowl

Fans that showed up five minutes late to the 50th Shrine Bowl might want to ask for their money back. Unless, that is, they love defense.

Kearney High teammates Rustin Dring and Brett Maher connected on a 68-yard halfback pass on the first play from scrimmage that proved to be the only touchdown in the South's 7-3 win over the North at Memorial Stadium.

"That was the plan (to start the game) for the last few days," said Maher, who earned offensive most valuable player honors and will walk-on at Nebraska. "Obviously at the time, you don't expect that to be the only score, but our defense played well and it worked out."

When the South defense stuffed a last gasp attempt on the North's last drive, the victory was sealed.

The North took over for the final time with 3 minutes, 52 seconds left in the game after defensive MVP Colin McDermott recovered Dring's fumble at the North 15-yard line.

With Wakefield quarterback Joel Nixon manning the offense, the North squad marched down the field with four straight completions that netted 51 yards to the South 27 with just over a minute remaining. But, Nixon mishandled two straight snaps on third and fourth down with a yard-to-go at the 18-yard line and the South preserved their 25th win in the event.

"We just didn't execute there those last couple of plays," said Grand Island coach Jeff Tomlin, who guided the North team. "I'd do everything the same way again. We thought we had an advantage up the middle with them to get the first down.

"You have to give our guys credit for getting down the field. We had some big plays in the passing game during that last drive."

It was the lowest scoring Shrine Bowl since 1992, when the South also took a 7-3 win over the North.

Tomlin had a hunch about the South's first play from scrimmage. It followed a crazy opening kick return which saw the South team fake three handoffs before Dring moved the ball to the 32-yard line.

"I told our defensive backs in the pregame that they might try some vertical routes right off the bat," Tomlin said. "We expected something like that during the game, but it probably just came a little earlier than we expected."

It overshadowed an unbelievable performance from Tomlin's squad. Save the touchdown, the South managed just 79 yards of total offense and four first downs in the contest.

"Man, our defense just played their guts out," Tomlin said. "They played awful hard."

Tomlin's North team fired right back on their first possession when it droved 59 yards in 12 plays before settling for Bobby Shults' 32-yard field goal. But, it was as close as they would get.

Despite, gaining 294 yards of total offense, including 103 yards rushing from Blair fullback Skyler Luxa, the North couldn't take advantage. They were inside the South 35 two more times in the first half, and Shults missed a 22-yard field goal on the opening possession of the third quarter.

Still, Tomlin savored the experience, as did Aurora standout Dex Schwieger who played tight end for the winners.

"This was a great experience," said Schwieger, who joined Hastings offensive lineman Jon Uden on the South team. "We put in a ton of hard work over the last ten days. It feels good to come out on top."

The coach appreciated working with all the players. It was his third Shrine game having played and serving as an assistant coach.

"It's a great cause and a great bunch of people to work with," Tomlin said. "It something really special to be a part of."

Mike Tomlin recorded six tackles playing cornerback for the North playing in his first football game in nearly a year. The Chadron State recruit tore his ACL in Grand Island's third game of the season last fall.

Grand Island Central Catholic's Sam Bolton ran twice for five yards for the North team with Dalton Ryba of GISH and Hadley Cooksley of Northwest also playing for the North squad.   



At Memorial Stadium

North    3    0    0    0 - 3

South    7    0    0    0 - 7


Scoring
First Quarter

South - Brett Maher 68 pass from Rustin Dring (Maher kick)

North - Bobby Shults 32 field goal



                             N              S

First Downs            10           4

Rushes-Yards        37-188    33-57

Passing Yards        106        90

Comp.-Att.-Int.        12-24-1    4-6-0

Return Yards           62           144

Fumbles-Lost           3-0          3-2

Punts-Yards             6-241      5-197

Penalties-Yards        9-77         5-28

RUSHING: North, Christensen 8-20, Luxa 11-103, Blatchford 5-14, Nixon 6-22, Bolton 2-5, Brill 3-20, Klein 2-2. South, Frazier 3-12, Dostal 11-4, Wallace 6-22, Smith 2-2, Dring 6-4, Maher 1-1, Linder 2-11.

PASSING: North, Brill 7-12-1-43, Nixon 5-12-0-63. South, Dostal 3-4-0-22, Dring 1-1-0-68, Maher 0-1-0-0.

RECEIVING: North, Blatchford 2-7, Luxa 1-12, Iverson 3-24, Christensen 1-3, Kahre 3-20, Klein 2-39. South, Maher 2-75, Meginnis 1-12, Frazer 1-3.