CUSTER — The Red Team built an 22-point first-half lead en route to a dominating 60-24 win over the Blue Team in the 28th 6-Man All-Star game at Hoffman Field.
Red opened on defense but forced a fumble just a few plays into the game. On the Red's first play from scrimmage, Richey-Lambert's Sage Spinner rumbled to the end zone untouched from 26 yards out.
The defense continued to make plays for the Red, as Froid-Lake's Mason Dethman then intercepted a bubble screen and returned it for a touchdown to give the Red a 14-0 lead just two minutes into the game.
The Blue Team answered back with a 4-yard touchdown pass from Custer-Hysham-Melstone's Tucker Keith to teammate Trent Kuntz. But the Red Team followed that with a one-play drive as C-J-I's Adam Grammer plunged in from 3 yards out.
Just before the end of the first quarter the Red Team got another score on the ground from Spinner to push the lead to 28-6.
"The big thing was keeping (Harlowton-Ryegate's Bergen) Mysse contained," Dethman, the Red Team's defensive MVP, said. "They wanted to pass a lot in the beginning and we covered it well."
The Blue Team began to claw back in the third quarter, as Mysse finished off a drive highlighted by a scramble and long pass from Centerville's Cole Noble to Custer-Hysham-Melstne's Jake Snively.
Then the Red Team pounded the Blue Team into submission. Spinner scored his third touchdown of the game midway through the third quarter on a 21-yard scamper up the right sideline to push the lead to 36-12.
Grammer then delivered the dagger late in the third, as he broke a pair of tackles in the backfield then raced up the sideline before being chased down and stripped at the goal line. Grammer crawled his way to the football in the end zone for the score to put the Red up by 32 points.
Teams traded scores late as the Red Team won for the fourth time in five years. It also marks the fourth consecutive year the team with Froid-Lake players have won.
"Like Nate (Stentoft) said, we kind of took it personal for us. We wanted to win and we know our guys wanted us to win, too, so we came out here and took it personal," Dethman said.
In addition to Dethman, the game's other MVPs were Spinner (Red offense), Mysse (Blue offense) and Savage's Cade Tombre (Blue defense).
