Knigge, Schumacher key in West squad's 8-Man all star win

With the West trailing 10-6 and just 6:19 left in the fourth quarter of the 36th Annual Sertoma 8-Man Classic in Hastings, it was getting excruciatingly close to now-or-never time.

The West took possession of the ball with a first-and-ten at the East 39-yard line and quarterback Tyler Schnitzler made the call in the huddle. "White zip orbit," he called.

For slot receiver Brady Knigge of Potter-Dix that meant looping around the wideout and running straight down the right sideline. Knigge did so and slipped past the defense where his sprint had left him wide open at the 20-yard-line. When Knigge looked over his left shoulder the ball was coming his way.

After hauling the ball in at the 20, Knigge added another 15 yards as he fended off defensive back Nick Miller of Hartington. Miller eventually forced Knigge out of bounds at the five.

Two plays later Shelton's Luke Glenn ran the ball in for a West 12-10 lead, the final score of the game. The sudden offensive explosion had shifted the burden of victory to the West defense with 5:03 left.

"They did some talking during the week about how we didn't belong," said Leyton High School's Sam Schumacher afterwards. "This was fun week but we wanted to show them that we could play."

Odd that the East would have much to say since it had come into the 2013 Sertoma 8-Man Classic on a five game losing streak. Maybe the talk had something to do with the East's narrow 19-16 overall lead in the classic.

Nevertheless, for Schumacher and the rest of the West defense, which had been stingy all game, it meant West would have to make two more stops. After East had gone three-and-out on its post-touchdown possession, East took over again with just over a minute to go.

With just a two-point lead, an added concern for West was the strong leg of East's Jac Bailey. Bailey had already proven his field-goal prowess with a 37-yard field goal in the second quarter. Bailey's boot, which helped East establish a 10-0 halftime lead, would have been good from 50.

While East had managed to get inside West territory, Zac Crowley of Elm Creek stepped in front of a Lane Scheitel pass for an interception that iced the game with 47 seconds left. With no timeouts left for East, West went into the victory formation.

"It was a tough week of practice with two-a-days and all, but it's worth it now," Knigge said.

Since the game had drawn its players from a pool of players from around the state, many of the players were complete strangers to each other.

"There was a lot of work but It was fun to come here and make a lot of new friends," said Knigge who knew only two players, including Schumacher, a week earlier.

Knigge will head to Nebraska Wesleyn University in the fall.

For Schumacher, who has played in two all-star football games and two all-star basketball games since graduating from Leyton, he can now look forward to his future.

"Yeah, now high school is really over," Schumacher said. "This was a great way to go out. It was a really fun week."

Schumacher will leave for Doane College on Aug. 13, where he will begin two-a-day football practice shortly thereafter.

He will likely play strong safety for the Tigers.