West shuts out East 10-0> Seventh straight victory by All-Stars

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BIDDEFORD – Thanks to good old-fashioned smash-mouth football, the West is still unbeaten in the Maine Shrine Lobster Bowl Classic.

Thanks to a dominating second-half performance by its massive offensive line and a punishing ground game led by Andrew Powers from Marshwood High School in Eliot, the West senior All-Stars defeated the East 10-0 in the seventh annual benefit event before a packed house of about 5,500 fans at Waterhouse Field.

The West got its ground game untracked in the second half as its offensive line simply overpowered the East defensive fronts.

“A couple minutes into the second half, we changed our game plan to run more because we thought it was working best,” Powers said. “And we just took it to them.”

Powers rushed 14 times for 94 yards, 84 of those in the second half.

“We came out kind of nervous and jittery in the game, but once we knew we could just push these guys off the line, we just kicked it in gear and tried to run the ball,” said Portland’s Joe D’Andrea, the second member of the West’s dynamic rushing duo.

D’Andrea tallied 46 yards on 12 carries and scored the lone touchdown in the game.

That score came at the end of a 16-play drive lasting 6:33 and covering 67 yards.

With Powers having success primarily in the middle and accounting for 50 of the drive’s yards, the West decided to throw a different look at the East.

On third-and-goal from the East’s 3-yard line, D’Andrea got the ball for the first time in the drive, cut up the middle, was stopped dead by a huge pile, kept his feet, regained his balance, and spun to the right to sprint into the end zone unmolested with 3:12 left in the third quarter.

“I tried to run the guy over in the middle, but we headed up and he didn’t wrap me up, so I took off to the corner,” he said.

The West stars piled up 156 yards on 42 carries to the East’s 71 yards on 31 carries.

Scoring was definitely not plentiful in the first half as both defenses were tough on opposing ballcarriers.

South Portland’s Ben Blackwood kicked a 26-yard field goal late in the first half to put the only points of the half on the board with 3:47 left in the first half.

West quarterback Abram Chappell of Fryeburg also had a productive game, completing five of 10 passes for 66 yards. West QBs were never intercepted. By contrast, the West picked off the East four times.

Stearns of Millinocket quarterback Adam Greenlaw led the East offense with 56 yards passing on 6-of-14 passing, but was picked off twice.

East defensive tackle Jared Ripton from Stearns in Millinocket was voted the East MVP while West honors went to defensive back Ross Silkman from Cheverus in Portland.

West stars 10, East stars 0

East 0 0 0 0 – 0

West 0 3 7 0 – 10

W-Blackwood 26 FG

W-D’Andrea 3 run (Blackwood kick)

East West

First downs 9 14 Rushing att. – yds 31-71 42-156 Passing cmp. – att. 7-18 6-15 Yards passing 60 77 Total yards 131 233 Intercepted by 4 0 Punts – avg. 3-27.3 5-35.6 Fumbles – lost 3-2 2-1 Penalties – yds 3-25 6-56

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING – East: Greenlaw 5-26, Stilphen 6-12, Morse 8-9, Eaton 1-8, King 7-7, DeGrasse 2-6, Hamel 1-5, Poulsen 1- (-2); West: Powers 14-94, D’Andrea 12-46, Chappelle 4-17, Allen 5-11, Morales 2-11, Additon 5-(-13)

PASSING – East: Greenlaw 6-14-2-56, Stilphen 1-4-2-4; West: Chappelle 5-10-0-66, Additon 1-5-0-11

RECEIVING – East: Gross 2-25, Pelkey 1-15, Eaton 1-10, Morse 2-7, Smith 1-3; West: Harris 4-29, Roediger 1-21, Lemay 1-16, Morales 1-11

INTERCEPTIONS BY – West: Grier 2-26, Green, Ilsley

FUMBLES RECOVERED BY – Ripton, Lemay