Herd leads West to Barden victory

YAKIMA, Wash. — In the first half of Saturday’s 15th Earl Barden Classic, the West team went with a quarterback rotation of Greg Herd and Chris Smith, and its offense never really clicked.

The second half became a one-man show for Herd, and he turned in a virtuoso performance.

Herd, the Eastern Washington University-bound athlete from Steilacoom High, threw a momentum-shifting touchdown pass and later ran for another score to rally the West to a 31-13 victory over the East on a sunny afternoon at Zaepfel Stadium.

The East team's Ethan Bersing from Selah sacks the West's Chris Smith from Concrete during the first half of the Earl Barden All-State Classic football game at Zaepfel Stadium Saturday, June 27, 2009. MORE PHOTOS BELOW

“He’s quick; He’s fast and strong,” Selah defensive lineman Ethan Bersing, the East defensive player of the game with 5 1/2 sacks, said of the 6-foot-3, 198-pound Herd. “I wouldn’t expect anything less from him.”

Herd’s athletic ability was on full display in the second half, particularly his knack for eluding an aggressive East pass rush that helped keep the West bottled up for most of the first half.

It was that skill for escaping that ultimately turned the game around.

On a fourth-and-4 from the East 27, Herd dropped back to pass and was on the verge of being sacked for about a 10-yard loss, but, some how, he not only slipped away from a lineman, but stayed on his feet. Herd then spotted Derek Rice open in the end zone, firing a perfect strike for the score that helped give the West a 14-13 lead with 19 seconds left in the third quarter.

“I was standing there watching and I thought he was dead,” Rice said of the near-sack. “All of a sudden, I see the ball coming toward me and I thought, ‘Oh, God, I better catch it.’”

Rice did and the momentum clearly swung to the West, which fell behind 13-0 in the first quarter after miscues twice gave the East the ball deep in West territory.

The West’s defense, buoyed by Herd’s play, picked off Brady Blankevoort on the East’s first play on the ensuing possession, with Darren Collinwood returning it to the East 19. Four plays later, Jared Rodgers scored on a 1-yard run.

The East then fumbled the ball on the kickoff after that score, and on second down, Herd scrambled out of pressure and ran 16 yards untouched for the West’s final touchdown.

“I consider myself an athlete and was just trying to make plays,” said Herd, who also had second-half runs of 23, 22 and 17 yards. “My teammates did a great job of buying me time with pass protection and the receivers kept finding open spots downfield.”

Herd, the West co-offensive MVP with Rice, finished 7-for-18 for 134 yards, and also ran for 70 yards on 10 carries.

Kicker Cameron Homan from Eatonville capped the scoring with a Barden Classic-record 36-yard field.

After spotting the East those two early scores, the West defense was pretty much air tight, particularly in the second half, when it allowed just three first downs — one on the East’s first play of the half and another in the final minute with the game’s outcome decided.

“They came out fired up (in the second half),” Granger’s Mychal Lopez, the East offensive MVP, said of the West defense. “We just couldn’t stay on the field.

“But we’re happy with how things ended. We would’ve liked to have gotten a W, but the team worked hard all week. We’ve got nothing to hang our heads about.”

West    0    7    7    17    —    31
East    13    0    0    0    —    13
East — David Garza 1 run (Jose Bucio kick)
East — Jonathan Buchanan 4 pass from Brady Blankevoort (kick failed)
West — Chris Smith 1 run (Cameron Homan kick)
West — Derek Rice 27 pass from Greg Herd (Homan kick)
West — Jered Rodgers 1 run (Homan kick)
West — Herd 16 run (Homan kick)
West — FG Homan 36

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—West, Greg Herd 10-70, Devon Hughes 4-20, David Gaylord 6-13, Derek Rice 3-10, Jered Rodgers 5-5, Stetson Shearer 3-(minus 3), Cameron Homan 1-(minus 8), Luke Dixon 5-(minus 11), Chris Smith 3-(minus 19). East, David Garza 7-8, Oscar Ramirez 4-6, Derrick Talley 2-(minus 3), Brady Blankvoort 2-(minus 3), Derek Todd 5-(minus 32).
PASSING—West, Herd 7-18-134-1, Smith 2-4-15-1. East, Todd 8-16-78-0, Blankvoort 7-11-49-1, Mychal Lopez 0-1-0-1.
RECEIVING—West, Zach Gehring 4-91, Rice 4-63, Brandon Smith 1-(minus 5). East, Blair Collins 7-38, Lopez 3-47, Trevor Davis 2-19, Jonathan Buchanan 2-17, Miles Gardner 1-6.