By Ryan Mink
rmink@digitalsports.com
There were big-time football recruits aplenty in the anaugrial All City Bowl Saturday evening. There were big hits on defense and bigger plays on offense.
But in the end it all came down to Gonzaga kicker Robbie Colas, who had connected on just two of three field goal opportunities all season, and was now facing a snowy field and a foreign snapper.
With two seconds left in regulation, Colas snuck a 20-yard field goal just over the upright to give the West private and charter schools a 23-22 win over the East DCIAA public schools at a snowy Eastern High School.
“I was ready for it,” Colas said. “I was ready for the slipperiness. It fell off the tee but I managed to get it in somehow.”
The players have been waiting for a long time to get a shot at proving which schools own Washington DC. Archbishop Carroll linebacker Dionte Holland said he heard trash talk from his public school friends all week. Holland, who had nine tackles and a fumble recovery, was named the West’s Defensive Most Valuable Player.
“They’ve got a lot of speed, but I think we’re more disciplined and we came ready to play,” Holland said.
St. John’s quarterback Ed Thomas was named the West team’s Offensive Most Valuable Player after completing six passes for 99 yards and a touchdown. He and Friendship Collegiate wide receiver Kevin Gadsen connected on two big plays on the game’s final drive to set up the field goal, including one on fourth-and-16.
“They’ve definitely got a lot of dudes on the other side of the ball,” Thomas said. “We just wanted to prove we’ve got some ballers too.”
West got on the board first as Thomas hit Gadsen for a 19-yard touchdown. The drive was extended after Colas was roughed after making a 38-yard field goal, giving the West more points than it would have gotten.
East had a surefire chance at a touchdown at the start of the second quarter when Colas was tackled while trying to get off a punt. East took over on the 1-yard line but was stuffed on its first crack at the end zone and fumbled on its second attempt.
West got the same opportunity near the end of the half when a snap went over the punter’s head, setting up the West on the 1-yard line. But the West punched it in on its first try on a 1-yard run by Maret’s Brian Pourciau.
Each team struggled to get its offense going, but with just 49 seconds left in the half, East tried for one more shot at the endzone. On its first play of the drive Coolidge quarterback Emmanuel Yeager tossed a perfect 43-yard touchdown pass to H.D. Woodson’s Nigel Rios and Woodson’s Joelil Thrash ran in the conversion to make the score 14-8 at the half.
East got the ball first in the second half and, set up by back-to-back 25-yard runs by Offensive MVP Kayvonne Spriggs of Woodson, scored on a 1-yard sneak by Yeager to give East a 16-14 lead.
West responded with one minute, two seconds left in the third quarter on a four-yard plunge by Pourciau, giving them a 20-16 lead.
That’s when Spriggs, who finished with 26 carries and 163 yards, took over. He ran the ball 11 times on the next drive, all but one of the East’s plays, and scored on a four-yard touchdown run to give East a 22-20 lead with 7:59 remaining.
After a pair of three-and-outs, West had one last chance with 4:15
remaining. After a loss of five yards on a reverse, West stared at a
fourth-and-16 with 2:58 remaining. It went for it and Thomas found
Gadsen down the right sideline for a leaping catch of 20 yards. Two
plays later, Thomas hit Gadsen over the middle for 28 yards, setting up
Colas’ eventual field goal.
“They were made-up plays,” Gadsen said. “He said, ‘Go out’ and he threw it to me. I just had to make the catch.”
In
the snowy conditions, even a chip-shot field goal seemed risky at best.
But after the East stuffed the West on the goal line three straight
times, out trotted Colas.
Colas made a 47-yard field goal
against Carroll and another field goal against Paul VI this season. He
missed his only other opportunity. The snap was low and the ball
slipped off Colas’ one-inch tee.
“I didn’t really know where it
was going,” Colas said. “I saw it taking off and I just held my breath
and watched it. … Honestly, I thought it was going to hit the bar or
barely skim over the bar.”
In conclusion, St. Albans defensive
tackle said, “I enjoyed being here. Even though it was cold and I
couldn’t feel my fingers, we loved the game.”
ROSTERS
West
1 Jaron Gillespie, Friendship Collegiate, DB
2 Ed Thomas, St. John’s, QB/DB
3 Antwan Capies, Ceasar Chavez, DB
4 Blair Ruthledge, Carroll, LB
5 Sean Harden, Model, WR
6 Anthony Palmer, Model, QB
7 Chris Mason, Friendship Collegiate, DB
8 Kevin Gadsen, Friendship Collegiate, WR
9 Donald Quarles, St. John’s, DB
12 Lawrenn Lee, Hyde, RB
18 Josh Sandoval, Model, LB
22 Alan Elder, Gonzaga, RB
24 Brian Pourciau, Maret, RB
25 Kaleem Washington, St Albans, DB
28 Marcus Johnson, Hyde, RB
30 Gabriel Smith, Friendship Collegiate, DL
33 Josh Better, Cesar Chavez, DB
41 Alec Regulinski, Sidwell Friends, LB
42 DeAngelo Williams, St. John’s, LB
52 Lawrence Lucas, Gonzaga, DL
53 Sam Oyekoya, Gonzaga, DL
54 Dionte Holland, Carroll, LB
56 Steven Brooks, Friendship Collegiate, OL
58 Taylor Hanley, Gonzaga, DB
62 Seck Barry, St. Albans, DL
63 Dominic McIntosh, St. John’s, DL
66 Alfonso Beale, Carroll, OL
72 Jeff Bruno, Gonzaga, LB
73 Richard Washington, Friendship Collegiate, OL
74 Robbie Colas, Gonzaga, P/K
75 Josh Tobin, Sidwell Friends, OL
77 Mark Rehbein, Gonzaga, OL
78 Nate Luongo, St. John’s, OL
80 Chris Speros, Gonzaga, WR
81 Max Johnston, Gonzaga, WR
88 Anthony Elliot, Friendship Collegiate, DB
Coaches
Gary Schnell, St. Albans (Head Coach)
Rashod Gillespie, St. John’s
Joe Reyda, Gonzaga
Mike Engelberg, Maret
Aazaar Rahim, Friendship Collegiate
Mark Burke, Model
John Simon, Sidwell Friends
East
1 Chris Washington, Anacostia, DB
2 Nigel Rios, Woodson, DB
3 Drake Anthony, Dunbar, DB
4 Marcus Thornton, Spingarn, DB
5 Milton Scott, Cardozo, WR
6 Marcus McNeal, Cardozo, RB
7 Tyree White, Dunbar, QB
8 Kris Kornegay, McKinley, K
9 Emmanuel Yeager, Coolidge, QB
12 Kayvonne Spriggs, Woodson, RB
18 Joelil Thrash, Woodson, DB/WR
22 Terry Turner, McKinley, RB
24 Charles Siler, Dunbar, RB
25 James Brown, Anacostia, DB
28 Sidney Balman, Wilson, DB
30 Michael Cunningham, Spingarn, DB
33 James Hooks, Woodson, LB
41 Julian Lowden, McKinley, DB
42 Marcus Phelps, Woodson, LB
52 Dominic Goodson, Anacostia, OL
53 Irvin Proctor, Coolidge, OL
56 Kevin Burgess, Dunbar, LB
58 Elijah Harris, Cardozo, DL
62 James Lewter, Ballou, OL
63 Tim Sumpkins, Coolidge, OL
66 David Smith, Roosevelt, OL
71 Carlton Whisonant, Wilson, DL
72 Tarvon Hardy, Spingarn, DL
73 Aaron Wallace, Coolidge, DL
76 Davon Hungerford, Dunbar, OL
77 David Gatlin, McKinley, DL
78 Dominique Jackson, Dunbar, OL
79 Clarence Cousar, Woodson, OL
80 Deon Long, Dunbar, WR
81 Lawrence West, Ballou, DB
88 Jarrard Hunter, Woodson, WR
90 Dominic Lyons, Wilson, LB
Coaches
Willie Stawart, Anacostia (Head Coach)
Horace Fleming, Wilson
Greg Fuller, Woodson
Burnell Irby, Eastern
Bobby Richards, Cardozo
Troy Stewart, Anacostia
Tyrone Stewart, Anacostia
Processing your request, Please wait....
