Other than a Cade Ballard touchdown pass, the East squad didn’t have much to look at on the scoreboard Friday night in the 12th Toyota East/West All-Star Classic at Austin Peay.
The West improved its record in the series to 7-5 with a 40-7 victory.
Ballard, the two-time Mr. Football winner from Greeneville and an Army commitment, threw for 75 yards, including a 26-yarder to Farragut wideout Jaden Gibbs (UT-Martin commit) to cut the West lead to 13-7 with 6 minutes, 3 seconds left in the third quarter. But the East offense struggled, otherwise, and amassed just 187 yards of offense.
Ballard was named the East’s offensive MVP. Fulton linebacker Deshawn Page was the East’s defensive MVP with five tackles and two tackles for loss. Page committed to Marshall earlier in the week.
The West scored first, on a trick play, and Maplewood quarterback Bobo Hodges — a 4A Mr. Football finalist — delivered an 8-yard scoring pass to Xavier Shephard (Pearl-Cohn) for a 7-0 lead in the first quarter.
After Ballard’s touchdown pass seemingly got the East back in the game in the third, Kenneth Walker (Arlington) returned the kickoff 95 yards to push the advantage to 20-7 and spark the rout.
The West outscored the East, 21-0, in the final quarter. Shephard added a 17-yard touchdown run to his night. Fred Orr (Clarksville Northeast) returned an interception 61 yards for a score in the final minute.
But Devon Starling (Cane Ridge) was named the West offensive MVP with 9 carries for 33 yards.
Chris Russell (Dyersburg) was the West defensive MVP with eight tackles.
BOXSCORE
West 40, East 7
East 0 0 7 0 – 7
West 7 6 6 21 – 40
SCORING: West – Shephard 8 pass from Hodges (Webber kick), Norton 8 run (Webber kick blocked); East – Gibbs 26 pass from Ballard (Taylor kick); West – Walker 95 KO return (rush failed), Henderson 12 pass from Norton (Webber kick); Shephard 17 run (Webber kick), Orr 61 run (Webb kick)
First Downs: East 8, West 16
Rushing: East 18-16, West 34-114
Passing: East 10-20-2, West 12-22-1
Pass Yds: East 123, West 179
Fumbles: East 2-0, West 1-1
Penalties: East 8-73, West 5-44
Punts: East 4-29.8, West 2-38.0
Points off turnovers: East 7, West 14