West sizzles in second half

Who needs coaches when you have history to motivate you?

For six years since the Shrine Bowl football all-star game started a second contest strictly for 9-man participants, the East portion of the state has won every contest.

This year, the Bowl's 31st in existence, the West decided to rewrite that history in a monstrous way.

After a tooth-and-nail first half that ended 6-0, the West poured on 29 points in the

24-minute second half, winning its first ever Shrine Bowl 9-man game 37-0 on Saturday.

"We were very aware of that going in," West quarterback Kevin Remington from Richardton-Taylor said. "That was enough motivation for us. The coaches didn't need to tell us."

The West won on the strength of a six-pronged backfield that carried for 279 yards on 41 carries in the game.

Tailback Cameron Hodgkiss of Trenton-Trinity Christian led all players with 122 yards on seven carries and a score.

Remington rushed for 29 yards on six carries and threw for 43 more on 3-for-3 passing. He tossed a touchdown to receiver Cory Rixen of Mott-Regent and ran for two more in the fourth quarter with the game already wrapped up.

"Those sweeps just killed us," East defender Reid Huttunen of North Border said. "They got outside of us, and they were just too fast."

The East came close to cracking the scoreboard on many opportunities, but the team ended up 0-for-3 in red-zone opportunities with a fumble lost and a pair of interceptions.

Quarterback Jesse Vote of Cando-Bisbee-Egeland-Starkweather led the East offensively, throwing 6 of 16 for 119 yards and leading the team in rushing with 78 yards on 14 carries.

Through the early part of the second quarter, neither team was able to find an offensive rhythm. Then the West carried out a methodical 13-play, 84-yard drive that ate up just over half the quarter and ended in a 6-0 lead after a missed extra point.

"That was a big series for us at the end of the first half, knowing we'd get it back at the start of the second half," said West head coach Travis Olson from Richardton-Taylor.

West 0 6 16 15- 37

East 0 0 0 0- 0

West-Thorson 1 run (kick failed)

West-Hodgkiss 57 run (Imdieke rush)

West-Rixen 15 pass from Remington (Thorson rush)

West-Remington 2 run (Fransen kick)

West-Remington 1 run (Shuetz pass)

TEAM STATISTICS

West East

First downs 18 13

Rushes-yards 41-279 33-136

Passing 57 101

Comp-Att-Int 7-6-0 17-6-2

Punts-Avg. 1-35.0 2-29.5

Fumbles-Lost 1-1 3-1

Penalties-Yards 3-20 6-38

Time of Possession 23:49 24:11

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING: West, Hodgkiss 7-122, Fandrich 12-56, Remington 6-29, Fylling 6-29, Meyhoff 6-25, Thorson 4-18. East, Vote 14-78, Yri 12-52, Tweed 6-10, Boprie 1-minus 4.

PASSING: West, Remington 3-3-0 43, Thorson 3-4-0 14. East, Vote 6-16-1 101, Schauer 0-1-1 0.

RECEIVING: West, Fylling 3-32, Schuetz 2-11, Rixen 1-14. East, Tweed 2-36, Schauer 2-32, Hammer 1-20, Boprie 1-13.

Readers can reach Forum reporter Aaron Blake at (701) 235-7311