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LOS GATOS — After an unusual start to the 44th Charlie Wedemeyer high school all-star football game Wednesday, both teams’ offenses were in high gear early.
All of the game’s touchdowns were scored in the first quarter at Los Gatos High. The South prevailed 17-7 for its third win in the past four years.
“Everyone had energy. Everyone wanted to play quick. Everyone wanted to get out fast and start out with a bang. We just kept the lead and kept grinding,” said Saratoga’s Harrison Fong, who scored the eventual winning touchdown with a 76-yard reception from Westmont’s Cameron Rottler late in the first quarter.
Approximately 10 minutes before the scheduled 7 p.m. start, it was announced that both teams’ uniforms had not arrived on time to Los Gatos High, so there would be a delay. The game eventually started at 7:23, with both teams wearing Los Gatos junior varsity jerseys, said Los Gatos coach Mark Krail. Each side was able to wear its respective all-star game jerseys in the second half.
The surprise uniforms didn’t stop both offenses from racking up yards in the first quarter. The South had 182 of its 335 total yards in the first 12 minutes; the North had 149 of its 303 total yards. In fact, all the touchdowns were scored in the last 5:32 of the quarter.
The North punted on its opening possession of the game, then the South was stopped on a fourth-and-one play on the North 29 on its first drive. Wilcox quarterback David Hernandez sprinted 39 yards on a read-option to start the North’s next drive, but on the next play, Saratoga’s Will Turpin read a pass perfectly and grabbed an interception for the South team on the South 17-yard-line.
Eating up large chunks for yardage on most of its plays on the next drive, the South scored first on a 30-yard pass from Rottler to Willow Glen’s Connell Ryans.
“It was just a simple fade,” said Ryans, who will be playing for the College of San Mateo. “It’s a complete honor (to be in the game), especially to win it.”
The North answered with any 80-yard drive that featured six plays of 10-or-more yards. A great leaping catch by Tyler Farnham of The King’s Academy for 31 yards on a pass from Hernandez put the North on the South 28-yard-line. Two plays later, Hernandez found Colorado-bound Vincent Colodny of Los Altos over the middle for a 10-yard touchdown.
“I was like, I’ve got to turn around as fast as I can and grab this ball right now,” said Colodny. “The touchdown was awesome. … It was a goal for me.”
But the South took the lead for good on the third play of the next drive on Rottler’s screen pass to Fong with 1:56 left in the first quarter. “Everyone lost leverage, and I just bounced it outside. Got a great block from Connell,” Fong said.
After that, both teams were unable to find the end zone. The only other scoring was a 31-yard field goal by Rottler with 4:22 left in the game. Besides his kicking (he was also 2 for 2 in point-after-touchdown kicks), Rottler had an outstanding passing game. He completed 12 of his 18 attempts for 257 yards and the two touchdowns. Fong caught a game-high six passes for 140 yards. Live Oak’s Cole Davis led the South team in rushing with 62 yards.
For the North team, Hernandez rushed for a game-high 127 yards and threw for 115 yards.
“It was a good experience. It was an honor just playing on an evening like this. A little weird playing on a Wednesday, but it was a good experience just playing in an all-star game like this,” said Hernandez, who will play wide receiver at the College of San Mateo
Farnham caught a team-high three passes for 60 yards.
The game is named in honor of the former Los Gatos coach who died eight years ago after a long battle with ALS.
