Cavs Shine in BTC All-Star Game
The 23rd annual Baltimore Touchdown Club All-Star Classic lived up to its name and then some. The fans who braved 30-degree temperatures on Saturday at Archbishop Spalding High School’s Whittles Field witnessed an outstanding contest that went down to the wire, and then into not one, but two overtimes before a winner was crowned.
All three Cavaliers saw action in Saturday’s game and made contributions to the North’s victory. Max Moore was among 6 DEs, and Ryan Gallagher was one of 11 WRs on the 53-man All-Star roster. Mason Gavin was one of the two QBs on the roster, and due to an unfortunate injury early in the first quarter to St. Paul’s QB Leo Kelly, Mason ran the North’s offense for almost the entire game.
The North went up early in the first after a FG by Boys Latin’s Sam Grace, and they followed that up with a short TD dive by Howard’s Devin Dawkins.
The second and third quarters saw a number of outstanding defensive stops on both sides; there were numerous East squad drives stopped short by Defensive Coordinator Mike Kraus’s smothering defense that saw Max Moore combine with fellow linemen for repeated sacks of the East squad quarterbacks.
The fourth quarter saw a frenzy of scoring. The East squad scored a FG by Towson’s Leighton Bechdel, and Mervo’s Corey Shell added a defensive TD that put the East on top late by a score of 17-10. Mason then engineered a long drive by the North, starting with a short screen pass to teammate Ryan Gallagher, and eventually capped off by Dawkins’ second TD of the game from a yard out, to tie the game with only a minute left.
The North started the first OT on offense, and put 3pts on the board after another Grace FG. The East’s chances looked slim after a 2nd-down snap sailed over the QB, followed by a 3rd-down sack. Facing a 4th & goal from the 25yd line and the game on the line, Towson’s Leighton Bechdel stepped in and drilled a 42yd FG to tie things up.
In the second overtime, the East could only manage another Bechdel FG, so the North took over determined to win it with a touchdown. That’s exactly what happened when Mason Gavin hit Curley’s Tyler Locklear over the middle from 11yds out to win the game for the North Squad.
North 26, East 23
North 10-0-0-7-3-6 26
East 0-0-7-10-3-3 23
