There’s a few geographic exceptions in the 605 All-Star Football Game, which pits schools east of the freeway against those west of it.  In order to restore “competitive balance,” Poly was moved to the East side, to give them a boost.  With just one Jackrabbit in this year’s game, the 43rd Annual 605 showdown, it didn’t appear that the shift would be that big of a boost to the East—and then Chris Leachman finished the game 10/12 for 170 yards and a touchdown to give the East a comeback win over the rest of the local kids on the West team, 25-19.

With Lakewood’s Terrance Woods tearing up the ground, and Millikan’s Alden Darby making big plays, it looked early like the West had the game in the bag—a superior defense laden with Long Beach athletes totally clamped down on the East for most of the first half.  Only one play was run in West territory in the first quarter, and Leachman’s first pass attempt was snared out of the sky by Wilson’s Philip Wilson.  The boys from the West couldn’t punch it in despite the time of possession and field position advantages until there were three minutes left in the second quarter, when Darby went tightroping down the right sideline for a 16-yard score. 

After a three-and-out, the West got the ball back and Downey quarterback Steven Cervantes hit Cabrillo’s Derek Speight in stride for a 56-yard touchdown, putting the West up 12-0 in what looked like a laugher.  At that point with 1:19 on the clock for the first half, the East had gained just two yards from scrimmage.  Then Leachman came in off the bench, and shrugged off the earlier mistakes (he fumbled a snap as well as the pick).  “It was my first football game in, what, five, six months?” he said after the game.  “So I had some nerves going a little bit.  After that I just went out and did my thing and played as hard as I could.”

The momentum changed towards the lone Long Beacher on the East right away, as he got them down the field in two boom-boom plays, a 17-yard dumpoff and a 42-yard bomb that went 40 in the air.  A quick punch-in later and it was 12-7 going into the half.

Marshalling the first drive of the second half, Leachman had the East looking unstoppable as he went 4/4 for 34 yards to get them to midfield.  But Jordan’s Princeton Fuimaono got a great blindside sack, and Millikan’s Kilisi Suai had a tackle for a loss to end the drive.  Cervantes fumbled inside his own five to give the East an easy score, and they converted the 2PC to make it 15-12, East.

Cervantes redeemed himself with a second touchdown to the Jaguar Speight, who had a great game with four grabs for 91 yards and the pair of touchdowns.  That gave the East a 19-15 lead—but Leachman wasn’t done, going down the right sideline for a game-winning 61-yard touchdown, that made it 22-19 with less than four left in the game.  The West could never dig their heels in on offense, and an insurance field goal later, it was in the books.

The Rams’ Silver Vaifanua had a great reverse punt return for 20+, and the local lineman (including St. Anthony’s Frank Hornberger and Wilson’s Dike Ezenekwe) were dominant.  Since nearly all the local players either have scholarships or will be at a JC next year, the most important thing was keeping down injuries—unfortunately Wilson lineman Josh Kocher went down on the second series with a knee injury that’s preliminarily being called an MCL injury, but he kept his composure.  “I was doing really well against my guy, too,” he said, on crutches on the sideline.

Darby finished with 50 all-purpose yards and the touchdown, and Cervantes finished 12/18 for 157 yards and a touchdown, but was narrowly outdueled by Leachman.  Lakewood’s Woods finished with 8 carries for 37 yards, and Suai and Fuimaono combined for four tackles for a loss.  Leachman admitted to being a little lonely with all his Moore League friends on the other sideline, but said he was happy to get one more high school football game before heading to Alabama A&M.

It was great to see all the local athletes get to strap it on one final time, and Saturday was proof—if the last few years of their careers weren’t enough—that big things are ahead for these kids.  Check out our highlight video by clicking here for more!