Thursday, July 3, 2008 11:09 PM CDT
All-Star games give players one more chance to shine
By Mike Monahan, Staff Writer
mmonahan@jg-tc.com
Last Saturday was the fourth annual Wabash Valley Coaches Association All-Star football game at Terre Haute, Ind., and the 18th annual Order of the Eastern Star All-Star football game at Millikin University in Decatur. The main purpose of the all-star games is to have fun, and that they did.
For the 19 Journal-Gazette/Times-Courier area players who participated in one of the games it was either their final football game or their final game before playing at the collegiate level. Either way it is their final high school football game and a game that they want to shine in. Cumberland’s Kenny Flood did just that in what would be his final game as he is to attend Lake Land.
Flood practiced all week as receiver but was put in at quarterback after starter Travis Johnson was injured. All Flood did in his final football game was pass for a touchdown, rush for a touchdown and throw for 146 yards, completing 12-of-18 passes.
In the Order of Eastern Star game, Arthur-Lovington’s Corey Dowd may have worked his way to at least earn a chance to walk-on at Eastern Illinois. Before the game he wasn’t going to try, but the East defensive coordinator Nathan Watson was impressed enough to call his alma mater and tell assistant coach Roy Wittke about him
Flood played for the North team, which lost 32-27.
“It was pretty exciting and a pretty good way to end my career,” said Flood, who threw for 1,159 yards for the 5-5 Pirates, who reached the Class 2A playoffs last fall.
Johnson was injured in the first half and didn’t play the second half. The backup quarterback, Terre Haute North’s John Garvin, couldn’t throw passes with a glenoid labrum tear.
“Kenny Flood had not thrown a pass since the last football game,” said Cumberland coach Todd Butler, who along with assistant Kevin Maynard were two of the assistants for the North team. “He threw 18 straight passes.”
Flood started the second half in front of the 4,200 fans and said he didn’t know any of the running plays.
“I ran twice and both were pass plays,” said Flood. “I just took off and ran. The touchdown run put us back on top (14-yard run with 8:29 left in the game, giving the North a 27-24 lead).”
Flood’s 27-yard pass late in the third quarter brought the North to within four at 24-20.
“When I was warming up it was pretty exciting just to turn around and see all of the people,” said Flood of the crowd. “You don’t see that many in Cumberland. It was just a good time and a good experience.”
The WVCA game is televised on WTWO, and Flood’s family taped the game on DVR, giving him his final game to save.
The night before the game was the Hall of Fame banquet.
“Each player was introduced and received a watch,” said Flood. “It was a real fancy thing and you got to meet the Hall of Famers.”
The North team also included players from Marshall and Casey-Westfield, while the South team had players from Martinsville, Oblong, Lawrenceville, Red Hill and Palestine-Hutsonville.
“It was fun meeting all the guys from the different schools and just not having a hardcore practice,” said Flood. “It was great to have coach Butler (coached offensive line) and coach Maynard (coached receivers, including Flood) it made it that much better. It was definitely a different coach Maynard. He was a lot more laid back and fun.”
As for Butler’s time he said, “I had a blast. It was great working with all of the kids. I knew the LIC kids and I got to meet kids from Indiana. About every kid is going to play football somewhere.”
Kye Butler, who is headed to play at Indiana State, was the only tight end for the North and played on the kick returns as well.
The one thing all-star games also do is make it so players only play one way, while during the season they may play both ways and nearly every single play.
“The main difference compared to playing both ways was playing on one side,” said Martinsville’s Bobby Short, who played wide receiver in the contest. “There were 22 solid players on both sides of the ball and that made the game very competitive.”
Short and teammate Ethan Nash, who played outside linebacker in the game, are headed to play at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. Short is to study mechanical engineering, while Nash is to study biomedical engineering.
“I really didn’t know what it would be like,” said Nash, who played a majority of the first half as the South led 14-0 at the break. “I learned a lot of new things and it was an eye-opening experience. Hopefully I learned a lot more about defense which will help me in college.”
Nash was a linebacker and offensive guard for the Bluestreaks, who finished 4-5 last fall.
“I was pretty honored to be chosen to go and it was a great way to end my senior year,” said Nash.
It was the first time the South has won the all-star game.
“We ended the streak and that made the entire experience better and more exciting,” said Short who won on the field for the game-winning touchdown scored by Palestine’s Ryan Roberts on a one-yard run with 3:45 left in the game. “We faced players from Casey and Marshall and this was the only time in football we ever had a chance to beat them so that was nice.”
Short was one of three receivers and two would play two series and then rotate.
As for the crowd Short, who noticed it during warm-ups said, “It was a little different. With such big grandstands it didn’t look that full, but when you looked around you could see that there were a lot of people there. It the game was at Martinsville we wouldn’t be able to fit everyone around the field.”
Mike Monahan is a staff writer for the Journal Gazette/Times-Courier. Contact Monahan at mmonahan@jg-tc.com or 238-6854.
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