TOPEKA — The winning streak is over.
The West squad had won the previous seven meetings over the East in the Kansas Shrine Bowl, but the East used a gadget play to turn the tables on Saturday night.
On fourth-and-four from the West 20-yard line, the East’s Conley Wilkins threw a halfback pass to Austin Moses for a go-ahead touchdown with 3:04 remaining, lifting the East to a 22-19 victory at Yager Stadium on the Washburn University campus.
Wilkins, who attended Blue Valley West, took a pitch from Topeka High quarterback Raymond Solis and found Moses, who prepped at Blue Valley Northwest, in the right corner of the end zone for the catch. Solis then hit Moses on the two-point conversion for a three-point lead.
“It was a back-and-forth throughout,” said Great Bend’s Hunter Harrison, an outside linebacker for the West squad. “It stinks that we lost, but I wouldn’t trade my teammates for anything.
“I made some friends for life. It was a great experience to play in this game. It’s for such a great cause.”
It appeared the West was going to make it eight in a row after Salina South’s Cody Busby scored on 6-yard touchdown run with 6:09 remaining in the fourth quarter.
But the East had the final answer, and then snuffed out the West’s final drive.
After the late go-ahead score, Busby returned the ensuing kickoff 31 yards to their own 46. Quarterback Zeke Palmer, out of Bishop Carroll, ran 10 yards and then threw a pair of completions to Markus Phox of Wichita Collegiate, covering 11 and nine yards, to put the West in business.
On first down at the 24, La Crosse product Kip Keeley then gained six yards to the 18. After a timeout, Palmer threw to the left corner of the end zone, where the West’s Drew Kite, out of Scott City, and the East’s Spencer Bernhardt, from Pittsburg, went up for the ball. Bernhardt came down with it for an interception and a touchback.
“I didn’t want to get a pass interference call and I thought I had a chance,” Kite said. “I went for it and when we went to the ground, I knew he had it, but I was hoping the ref wouldn’t see it and I just tried to grab the ball.”

HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL
40th Annual Kansas Shrine Bowl

Saturday

At Topeka
Yager Stadium

East 22, West 19
East     0    6    8    8  —  22
West    0    6    7    6  —  19

SCORING SUMMARY
First Quarter
No scoring
Second Quarter
West — Drew Kite 7 pass from Markus Phox (run failed), 4:02
East — Denzel Chilcoat 31 run (pass failed), 2:11
Third Quarter
West — David Cardinal 2 run (Markus Phox kick), 6:39
East — Tye Hughes 13 pass from Marc Walbridge (Conley Wilkins pass from Walbridge),0:13
Fourth Quarter
West — Cody Busby 7 run (run failed), 6:09
East — Austin Moses 20 pass from Conley Wilkins (Moses pass from Raymond Solis), 3:04