West beats the East. Matt Stansberry played cornerback for the East and had 7 tackles and 2 pass break-ups. The following news article was published in the Lincoln Journal.
The 34th annual Nebraska Sertoma Eight-Man All-Star football game was played on an 11-man, 100-yard field. And the way the defenses performed Saturday at Adams Central High School, it looked like they had three extra players pursuing every play.
Mullen all-stater Zach Call's 2-yard touchdown run with 7:17 left in the first quarter was the only score of the game in the West's 7-0 victory against the East before an estimated 2,000 sun-drenched spectators.
Eight-man football is normally a high-scoring game, so after the game, both head coaches predictably said they'd never seen anything like it. The dominant defense, physical play and 16 punts by both teams (eight for each) would've definitely earned the Pelini brothers' seal of approval.
"This was hard-nosed football with tremendous hitting on both ends,'' said West coach Craig Schnitzler of Kenesaw, whose team finished with 110 total yards. "It became a war out there.''
In the second half, the East defense held the West to just one first down and minus 7 yards rushing (the West lost 9 yards kneeling to kill the clock on the final two plays of the game) and 10 yards passing.
"We thought our defense was good enough to win the game,'' East coach Jim Pfeiffer of Friend said after his squad picked up 150 yards. "We thought we could move the ball with the athletic kids we had, but they (the West) had great speed defensively and they shut down almost everything we tried.''
Fittingly, it was a defensive play that set up the lone score, as Pleasanton linebacker Garrett Reese recovered an East fumble at the East 14-yard line. Call scored three plays later.
The West had a chance to add to its lead later in the first quarter, getting to the East 1. The East defense threw Axtell's Heath Anderbery for a 1-yard loss on third down. On fourth down, the East's Cody Stalp broke through and tackled Anderbery for a 7-yard loss on a pitch play to the left.
Stalp, from West Point Central Catholic, was the East defensive MVP.
Giltner's Derreck Eastman was chosen the East offensive MVP after gaining a game-high 63 yards on 15 carries. Overton quarterback Jacob Jensen was the West offensive MVP and Reese was the defensive MVP.
