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Sertoma Classic | Blue all-stars capitalize on Silver mistakes

Darrell Moodydmoody@nevadaappeal.com
Shannon Litz / Nevada AppealTruckee quarterback Patrick Shaffer eyes a receiver during the 31st Sertoma Classic all-star football game at Damonte Ranch High School on Friday.
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RENO, Nev. andamp;#8212; Special teams gaffes enabled the Blue all-stars to break the three-year winning streak of the Silver.Three bad snaps, two on punts and one on an extra point, enabled the Blue squad to score 14 points en route to a 34-27 victory in the 31st Sertoma Classic at Damonte Ranch High School on Friday night.andamp;#8220;Special teams are big in this kind of game,andamp;#8221; Blue coach Ernie Howren said. andamp;#8220;This is like the first game of the season and special teams are huge early in a season. They were huge.andamp;#8221;andamp;#8220;The ball picked up some moisture,andamp;#8221; Silver coach Bob Shaffer said. andamp;#8220;It was one of those things. We had other plays that hurt. We dropped two interceptions.andamp;#8221;The last bad snap came midway through the fourth quarter with the Silver holding on to a 27-24 lead with 12.1 left in the third quarter thanks to a 20-yard interception return by Truckee’s Trevor Auldridge.On fourth-and-10 from the Blue 40, the third bad snap of the game bounced past Carson’s Austin Pacheco, who fell on the ball back at midfield.After that, it was all Jace Bilingsley, the Lowry star, who finished with 100 yards on 13 carries.Four straight runs moved the ball down to the Silver 31. On second-and-10, Kenney Bradley of Fernley threw a 12-yard strike to Kyle Bryant to the 19.On the next play, Billingsley tried to go over the right side, and it looked like he was going to be tackled in his own backfield.It was as if he was a human pinball. The legs kept churning and he kept bouncing off tacklers and then raced to the end zone. A.J. Silva’s PAT made it 31-27 with 4 minutes left.andamp;#8220;He broke two tackles in the backfield alone,andamp;#8221; Howren said.The Silver got a bad break on the ensuing kickoff when Frank deBraga dropped the kickoff out of bounds at his own 5.Two plays later, Reed’s Spencer Stockton intercepted a pass by Truckee’s Patrick Shaffer at the Silver 24. Silva kicked his second field goal of the game, this one a 36-yarder, to make it 34-27.The Silver wasn’t through, however.A 19-yard pass to Truckee tight end Braden Waters and three passes to Silver MVP Chance Quilling put the ball deep in Blue territory. Shaffer completed his next pass down to the 11, but the Silver team was out of timeouts and couldn’t stop the clock.Quilling saw action at quarterback, wingback and wide receiver. He was huge throughout the game. Unofficially he caught 11 passes for 118 yards, ran nine times for 66 yards and completed 4 of 9 passes for 41 yards. He scored two touchdowns.If this was indeed his last high school game, it was a good one.andamp;#8220;For now it is (my last one),andamp;#8221; Quilling said. andamp;#8220;Right now I plan on playing baseball. If I miss it, I may come back. MVP sounds pretty good. I thought it was fun.andamp;#8220;I didn’t think I’d play that much at quarterback. It was hard. I’m pretty tired right now. I wish we had those last couple of plays back.andamp;#8221;Coach Shaffer said Quilling played more quarterback because his son, Patrick, had a knee injury and lacked mobility. Quilling ran a lot of wildcat plays out of the quarterback spot.The first half was as entertaining as there as been in the history of the game. In the final 5:15 of the half, the teams combined for 24 points.Silva snapped a 14-all tie with a 27-yard field goal with 1.6 left for a 17-14 lead, which was set up by Billingsley’s 88-yard kickoff return.Quilling and Douglas’ Nate Von Ahsen scored on TD passes in the first half for the Silver squad.The momentum carried over to the second half. A bad snap on a fourth-and-6 play saw Pacheco only able to fall on the ball at the 1. Billingsley scored on the next play. Silva’s PAT made it 24-14 with 10:19 left.The teams exchanged possessions, and then the Silver squad mounted a 95-yard scoring drive to cut the lead to 24-21 with 12.1 left in the third period.It was nearly all Quilling. He ran six times for 49 yards, including a 10-yard TD run. He also completed 4 of 7 passes for 41 yards, including one third-down conversion. He also converted one on a fourth-down running play.The Silver took its first lead with 11:38 left in the game on Auldridge’s interception return.Unfortunately, it didn’t last.Since the game changed to the Silver-Blue format in 2004, the Silver squad has won six of nine games.


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