Del Sol senior tailback Dezerick Reed looks for yardage Saturday, June 5, 2010, during the 39th West Charleston Lions Club High School All-Star Game at Gorman.
Sunday, June 6, 2010 | 2:05 a.m.
Sunrise Victorious in All-Star Game
Behind the performance of MVP Dezerick Reed, the Sunrise Region beat the Sunset Region, 20-9, Saturday night in the 39th West Charleston Lions Club High School All-Star Game.
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Coronado High's RJ Newton was one of the Las Vegas Valley’s most prolific quarterbacks last fall.
His strong performances, however, went virtually unnoticed because Coronado finished with a 3-6 record and failed to win a league game.
Newton finally got to compete on a big stage Saturday. He didn’t disappoint.
He passed for 80 yards and a touchdown to lead the Sunrise Region to a 20-9 victory against the Sunset Region in the 39th West Charleston Lions Club High School All-Star Game at Bishop Gorman.
Newton’s 35-yard touchdown pass to Del Sol's Evan Weinstock at the 8:10 mark of the first quarter gave the Sunrise the lead for good.
“(Weinstock) is a great receiver,” Newton said. “He’s tall and fast with great hands. I trusted he would catch it if I threw it up.”
The 5-foot-11, 180-pound Newton passed for more than 250 yards in each of the final four games last fall to finish with 1,818 yards and nine touchdowns.
Newton, unlike several players he faced Saturday, won’t be playing college football in the fall. That’s makes his strong showing a nice ending to his football career.
With the Sunrise looking to get a crucial first down in the fourth quarter, Newton challenged Gorman’s Ian Bobak at the first-down marker trying to get extra yardage.
The 6-foot-3, 250-pound Bobak, who will play at UNLV in the fall, sent Newton flying out of bounds — just short of the first down. Newton immediately got on his feet and slapped Bobak’s helmet to signal a good play by both.
“That kid hits pretty hard, though,” Newton jokingly said.
The Sunrise took advantage of a slow-starting Sunset offense in scoring the game’s first 20 points. The Sunset ran six plays in the first quarter, losing two fumbles and gaining just one yard.
The fumbles both came on bad quarterback-center exchanges.
“We had a really tough time throwing the ball and running it,” said Tony Sanchez of Gorman, the Sunset coach. “We tried to simplify some things (in the second half). …At the end of the day, the kids had a great time and that is all that matters.”
Del Sol’s Dezerick Reed was named the game’s Most Valuable Player, rushing for 65 yards on 15 carries with a 5-yard touchdown run.
“I couldn’t be happier for that young man,” said Preston Goroff of Del Sol, who coached the Sunrise team. “He was the heart and soul of our football program.”
The victory was extra special for the players and coaches who represented Del Sol.
They were on the wrong end of a lopsided 62-21 loss to Gorman in the state championship game but erased some of the bad memories by winning at Gorman and against some of the Gaels’ players and coaches who defeated them in the finals.
“I can’t lie and say it doesn’t feel good,” Goroff said. “We had a few more horses (today) to make things a little more even.”
The Sunset cut its deficit to 20-2 before halftime on a safety by Franz Ferguson of Bonanza. Its lone touchdown came midway through the fourth quarter when Legacy's Devin Wiedemann connected with Cimarron's Tim Hasson for a 27-yard scoring strike.
Keorris Berry of Desert Pines was the game’s defensive MVP, while Tyrone Blake of Palo Verde was the offensive MVP.
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