Speed on defense the key for West

YAKIMA, Wash. — If the East team in the 15th annual Earl Barden All-Star Classic has trouble moving the ball against the West’s defense during Saturday’s 1 p.m. showcase of the top graduating seniors in the state’s smaller schools, there’s a simple reason why.

“Our speed on defense is absolutely unbelievable,” said West head coach John Schultz of Centralia. “Even the big guys are fast. We have a really hard time running against our first team defense in practice.”

The West team is loaded with talent, boasting at least 18 future collegiate football players, including three prospective Division I players — Kyle Hoffmann of Orcas going to Montana, Tumwater’s Joe Cameron headed for Montana State and Hockinson’s Justin Green bound for Idaho.

Their roster also includes no fewer than four future Eastern Washington Eagles — Castle Rock’s Zach Gehring, Adna’s Jered Rodgers, Cameron Homan of Eaton and Lynden’s David Gaylord and two Central Washington recruits, Burlington-Edison’s Stetson Shearer and J.J. Quinlan of Archbishop Murphy.

The West will also have a size advantage, with the starting offensive line expected to have three players in the 300-pound range. “The smallest guy in our offensive line is my son, and he’s the center,” Schultz said. Bradley Schultz, who will play at Willamette, weighs in at 250 pounds.

To counter that, the East will play to its strength and perhaps its only advantage — the explosiveness and speed of its skill-position players.

East coach Brian Dunn will have his team employ the same offense his Lakeside Eagles run — what he calls “our Pistol offense. It’s a short shotgun, kind of like running the I (formation) out of the shotgun. It’s what they made pretty famous at Nevada.”

The East team includes a half-dozen players who played in the Yakima and Kittitas Valleys.

Toppenish running back Oscar Ramirez is one of the team’s fastest players, as is Granger quarterback Mychal Lopez, who will move to wide receiver for this game in light of the fact that the East’s two primary quarterbacks are Cashmere’s Derek Todd, the Class 1A player of the year, and Brady Blankevoort, who played for Dunn at Lakeside.

East Valley’s Jonathan Buchanan, Ellensburg’s Blake Nichols, Matt Paul of Granger and Ethan Bersing of Selah are also on the East squad.