West football team shuts down East to win third CHaD all-star game

MANCHESTER - Paul Lavigne felt good about his West defense going into Saturday's CHaD East-West NH High School All-Star Game, but that didn't keep the long time coach from feeling worried.

When the West forced a three-and-out on the game's first series, Lavigne thought his defense would do OK.

He had no idea just how OK it would be. The West held the East to no yards and no first downs in the first quarter, intercepted four passes in the second half and made a 24-7 win at Saint Anslem College look easy.

"I didn't know exactly how it was going to go, but after the first series, I said I think our defense is going to be good," Lavigne said. "We didn't shoot things or do this or that. We did a lot of reading and we got off the blocks and we did a good job."

The final score doesn't tell the whole story, as the West outgained the East 332-131, including 192-35 on the ground. The West also recorded four sacks, 2.5 from Kyle Reisert (Plymouth), while Marc Gaudet (Concord), Harrison Urda (Milford), Brad Rhoades (Trinity) and Ian Landry (Trinity) each had an interception. Gaudet added six tackles and was received the Bo Dickson Award as the game's most outstanding player.

While the defense was shutting down the East early, the West offense was taking advantage of great field position, as it scored on its first two drives, and three of four, as the average starting spot of its four drives was the East 45-yard line. The West led 12-0 with 5:45 left in the first quarter and made it 18-0 on its first drive of the second.

"That was very important to our defense because now we can play a little more conservative back there and not worry about being up tight or this and that," Lavigne said. "Scoring put us in a more relaxed mode, and when the kids are in a relaxed mode, they play better."

Trevor Knight (Nashua South) led the West offense with 71 yards passing, going 4 of 14 for a touchdown, while Devin Gillis (Merrimack) came in late and completed 4 of 7 passes for 69 yards and a score. Nick Makris (Manchester Central) had five catches for 84 yards and a touchdown, while Mitch Banuskevich (Milford) added an 8-yard touchdown reception.

Shawn Cavallaro (Hanover) rushed for 54 yards on 13 carries with two touchdowns and Walters Ndi (Concord) added 59 yards on the ground.

The East got most of its offense from quarterback Derek Stegman (D0ver), who split most of the time with Donovan Phanor (Portsmouth). Stegman was 7 of 16 for 86 yards and an interception, while Phanor was 1 of 6 for 10 yards and two interception and he also was credit with 13 rush attempts for minus-2 yards.

Manny Latimore (Pinkerton) had the lone touchdown for the East, scoring on a 2-yard run with 2:30 to go in the third quarter.

"We had a hard hitting defense, I wouldn't want to play them," Knight said of the West defense. "It was good to see them busting it and then have us score on the first two drives. It was a lot of mental stuff, putting it to them, getting them down in the dumps. The hitting, I don't think they saw that coming."

It started on the game's first play from scrimmage, when Reisert dropped Phanor for a 7-yard loss.

"We were ready to play," Urda said. "I don't think they were sure what they could do at all. We were on the outside, we were on the inside, so they weren't sure where to go offensively."

After forcing a punt on the first East possession, the West took over at its 31 and Knight guided the offense on a nine-play, 69-yard drive, that was kept alive by a 16-yard pass from Knight to Nick Vailas (Bedford) on fourth-and-7 from the East 30. Two plays later, Knight was able to hit Makris with a short pass for a touchdown.

The West was able to find the end zone again on its next drive, with Cavallaro racing in from 27 yards out to put his team up 12-0. Cavallaro made it 18-0 with a 1-yard touchdown run with 12:35 left in the second quarter.

The offense stalled from there, but the defense was still able to hold strong for the West. The East had six possessions in the second half, four of which ended on West interceptions.

"They were flying all over the place," Lavigne said. "The secondary, coached by my son (Andy), did a fabulous job. The key was up front. We didn't give them a lot of room up front."