South wastes no time in Shrine Bowl win
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BY RYLY JANE HAMBLETON / Lincoln Journal Star
The big-play offense the South wanted to showcase was evident on the first play of the 50th annual Shrine Bowl football game.
Rustin Dring of Kearney took a toss from quarterback John Dostal of Omaha Gross on the first play of the game. Just before he got to the corner, Dring pulled up and lofted a pass to Kearney teammate Brett Maher, who streaked down the sideline. He gathered in the pass near the North 35-yard line and then ran into the end zone for a 68-yard touchdown.
The North bounced right back with a field goal on the ensuing drive, but neither offense could put up any more points and the South prevailed 7-3. It was the South’s 26th win in the series history, which includes three ties.
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“We’ve been planning it the last couple of days, so we had an idea it was coming and we were lucky enough that it worked,” said Maher, a Nebraska football walkon who was named the outstanding offensive player of the game. He finished with two catches for 75 yards, attempted one pass and also averaged 41.2 yards on five punts.
“With that being the first play and such a big one, I didn’t think that would be the only one. Give a lot of credit to the North team. They were big and physical and you couldn’t really do much inside against them. And that was our plan.”
After a lot of practice on the play this week, Dring said he was ready.
“We opened up last year against Grand Island with it and we almost connected with it, I just overthrew him a bit,” said Dring. “This is the first time we had a connect.”
While the South offense sputtered the rest of the game, the defense came through, especially late in the fourth quarter after outstanding defensive player Colin McDermott of Creighton Prep recovered a South fumble at the 15-yard line to give the North one last chance.
Joel Nixon of Wakefield completed five passes in six attempts, including passes of 19 and 20 yards to Wakefield teammate Ryan Klein.
The last one gave the North a first down at the South 27-yard line. After a 6-yard pass to Zach Kahre of Omaha Burke, Kaleb Christensen of Columbus Lakeview picked up three yards. But Nixon couldn’t pick up the first down on consecutive sneaks and the South got the ball back to run out the clock and preserve the win.
“Our defense bent but didn’t break,” said South head coach Bob Fuller of Plattsmouth. “We did things when we needed to do them. Credit the kids on that.”
After the first play of the game, the North defense was stingy, allowing the South just four first downs, 52 yards rushing and 142 total yards. The North countered with 188 yards rushing and 106 through the air.
“Our defense stepped up the rest of the game,” said North coach Jeff Tomlin of Grand Island. “Joel got in a nice rhythm there at the end. Ryan Klein had some huge catches.
“Within the rules of the game, with the way they have to run splits, we thought the quarterback sneak was the best play.”
After Maher added the extra point after his long catch, the North marched 49 yards on 13 plays. Bobby Shults of North Platte St. Patrick capped the drive with a 32-yard field goal.
“We couldn’t get anything going in the first half,” said Dostal. “Their defense had such hard hitters. Every time we’d get to a hole, they would be filling. That defense was just too quick.”
Maher kept the North from having a golden opportunity early in the fourth quarter. After he mishandled the snap for a punt, he located the ball in the end zone, took off running and then got off a 35-yard punt to mid-field. The North couldn’t capitalize and had to punt.
“I was just trying to make a play and give our defense a chance to keep them out of the end zone,” said Maher. “They put real good drive together on that last drive and our defense came through like they had all night.”
Micah Fisher of Lincoln Southwest provided the South defense with its biggest play of the night when he picked off a Jared Brill pass and returned it 26 yards.
“We ended up rolling coverage because they went in motion,” said Fisher, who is headed to UNO. “I saw the play-action and I just started back-pedalling and there was just one guy running a post.
“It was a defensive battle and you have to love that.. On that last drive, I was just thinking, ‘we’ve got to get a stop.’ There had a couple of key catches.”
McDermott, who is walking on at Nebraska, finished the
Game with eight tackles.
“We figured if they throw their best punch at the beginning, we better just play steady,” he said. “We had a couple of shots there when we could have come away with field goals or touchdowns when we were driving on them.
“We were just trying to be nasty up front. I think we accomplished that.”
Reach Ryly Jane Hambleton at 473-7314 or rhambleton@journalstar.com.
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