BY JIM MISUNAS
jmisunas@gbtribune.com
TOPEKA — Great Bend's Dalton Miller delivered the game-winning play with a 44-yard touchdown that sparked the West past the East 14-9 in Saturday's 47th Kansas Shrine Bowl football game.
Miller busted wide open on his touchdown when Manhattan's Tyce Hoover crushed DeSoto linebacker Luke Barger with a trap block at the 8:01 mark in the third quarter for a 14-3 lead.
Miller was named the West's squad Most Valuable Player with 49 rushing yards on five carries. Great Bend head coach Erin Beck helped direct the West offensive game plan.
The East's Evan Renallo (Blue Valley Northwest) kicked a 23-yard field goal for a 23-0 lead.
The West drove 83 yards in 14 plays and scored on a 1-yard dive by quarterback Kade Melvin (Norton). Salina South's Ty Garrett caught the 2-point pass from Goddard Eisenhower's Chance Omli.
The West converted a pair of third-down conversions — a 7-yard pass from Riley County's Garrett Harmison to Cheney's Riley Petz and a 22-yard pass to Sedgwick's Kale Schroeder. Wichita North's Joe Williams caught a 12-yard pass from Harmison to reach the 1-yard line. Harmison completed six of seven passes for 70 yards on the drive.
Miller busted his touchdown on an 8-play, 80-yard touchdown drive to start the second half. Cheney's Petz converted a third down pass reception into a crucial first down from Norton's Kade Melvin.
The West featured an offensive line of Smith Center center Joel Montgomery, Garden City's Charirez Refugio, Beloit's Creighton Johnson and Conway Springs' Dawson Martin at guards and Lakin's Hadley Panzer, Valley Center's Tony Caldwell and Peublic County's Eyann Zimmerman at tackles.
The East drew within 14-9 on Conor Haviland's 1-yard touchdown with 10:29 left in the game. Sabetha's Gabe Garber caught a 38-yard reception from quarterback Axtell's Quinn Buessing.
The East had a potential game-winning touchdown pass nullified when receiver C.J.Horton from Fort Scott was called for offensive pass interference against Goddard's Carter Morrow with 5:42 left in the fourth quarter.
The dominating West front seven stopped the East three times after they reached first-and-goal situations. The West held the East to four yards rushing on 27 attempts, forcing the East to an aerial game.The West sacked East quarterbacks six times for 42 yards in losses. Clearwater's Nolan Streit and Maize High's Keaton Roberton each had two sacks.
The East's Kamble Haverkamp from Centralia intercepted two passes.
WEST 14, EAST 9
West 0 8 6 0 — 14
East 3 0 0 6 — 9
EAST—Evan Renallo 23 FG
WEST—Cade Melvin 1 run (Ty Garrett pass from Chance Omli)
WEST—Dalton Miller 44 run (pass failed)
EAST—Conor Haviland 1 run (pass failed)
RUSHING—WEST—35-93; Dalton Miller (Great Bend) 5-49; Jeremiah Brown (Wichita West) 2-22; Joe Williams (Wichita North) 5-16; Melvin (Norton) 10-13; Hayden Brown (Hays) 9-9; Jackson Kavanagh (Salina Central) 1-(-1); Riley Petz (Cheney) 1-(-1); Garrett Harmison (Riley Co.) 1-(-8); team 1-(-6); EAST—27-4; Conor Haviland (Humboldt) 6-13; Connor Hasz (Paola) 4-4; Gabe Garber (Sabetha) 1-4; Quinn Buessing (Axtell) 9-4; Adam Albertini 2-0; Chase Torkelson (Basehor) 6-(-21)..
PASSING—WEST—12-19-2, 127; Harmison (Riley Co.) 7-9-0, 89; Melvin (Norton) 2-4-1, 19; Kavanaugh (Salina Central) 3-5-2, 19; Jeremiah Brown (Wichita West) 0-1-0; EAST—15-25-0, 180; Buessing (Axtell) 7-13-0, 98; Torkelson (Basehor) 7-11-0, 70; Garber (Sabetha) 1-1-0, 13.
RECEIVING—WEST—Kale Schroeder (Sedgwick) 2-30; Riley Petz (Cheney) 3-34; Joe Williams (Wichita North) 2-18; Kaeden Hoefer (Goddard) 2-23; Jeremiah Brown (Wichita West) 3-22; EAST—Renallo (BV Northwest) 5-71; Taybor Vetter (Wamego) 4-46; Garber (Sabetha) 1-38; Buessing (Axtell) 1-13; Adam Albertini (St. Paul) 2-12; C.J. Horton (Fort Scott) 2-10.
INTERCEPTIONS—EAST—Kamble Haverkamp (Centralia) 2.
