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EMPORIA —
Do not let anybody try and convince you that All-Star Games are not competitive. Every lackluster NBA All-Star Game, for example, should be canceled out alone by Pete Rose sliding into Ray Fosse to score the winning run in the 1970 MLB All-Star Game.
Pittsburg High School defensive lineman and East squad member Broc Bennett can attest to the competitive spirit on hand at the Kansas Shrine Bowl.
“I’ll be playing against guys that I’ve never played before,” Bennett said on Wednesday afternoon not long after waking up from a 3-hour nap. “That should be fun. We’ve been working hard this week and everybody’s — players and coaches — looking forward to ending the West’s winning streak. I believe they’ve won six games in a row or something like that. We want to end it bad.”
The West owns a six-game winning streak — 10-9 in 2006, 26-7 in 2007, 29-28 in 2008, 14-7 in 2009, 45-29 in 2010 and 30-7 in 2011. The 2006 and 2010 games were played in Pittsburg and the 2008 contest was played in Welch Stadium, Emporia, host site of the 2012 game.
Bennett’s teammates on the East squad include Jayden Bowen (Crest), Dan Durbin (Fort Scott), Zach Gougler (Galena), Ivory Kelly (Parsons) and Quinton Schooley (Chanute), players from schools in the Southeast Kansas, Crawford-Neosho-Cherokee and Three Rivers leagues.
“Everybody talks with everybody,” Bennett said. “Everybody’s real cool.”
Justin Fulks (Blue Valley), Michael Glatczak (Centralia), Brandon Goodman (Paola), Austin Mendenhall (Neodesha), Logan O’Dea (Wellsville), Tanner Staats (Paola), Austin Veach (Doniphan West), Nick Walsh (Lyndon) and Marcus Williams (Gardner-Edgerton) are East members who played in 2011 games against either Pittsburg, St. Mary’s Colgan or Frontenac.
Bennett — a prominent starter on both the offensive and defensive line his senior year — will concentrate playing on the defensive line Saturday.
“We’re going to have a really good defensive line,” Bennett said. “Hopefully, we’ll be able to control most of the game.”
Bennett delivered 28 pancake blocks for the SEK League champions — helping pave running lanes for classmates Joe Wimmer and Marcus Striplin — and recorded 40 tackles from his defensive tackle position. Pittsburg upended No. 1-ranked Blue Valley (2010 Class 5A state champions) in district play but fell tantalizingly short of the playoffs.
For his outstanding line play on both sides of the ball, Bennett earned All-State recognition from the Topeka Capital-Journal (first team) and the Wichita Eagle (honorable mention), as well as his spot in the Shrine Bowl.
Do not let anybody try and convince you that All-Star Games are not competitive. Every lackluster NBA All-Star Game, for example, should be canceled out alone by Pete Rose sliding into Ray Fosse to score the winning run in the 1970 MLB All-Star Game.
Pittsburg High School defensive lineman and East squad member Broc Bennett can attest to the competitive spirit on hand at the Kansas Shrine Bowl.
“I’ll be playing against guys that I’ve never played before,” Bennett said on Wednesday afternoon not long after waking up from a 3-hour nap. “That should be fun. We’ve been working hard this week and everybody’s — players and coaches — looking forward to ending the West’s winning streak. I believe they’ve won six games in a row or something like that. We want to end it bad.”
The West owns a six-game winning streak — 10-9 in 2006, 26-7 in 2007, 29-28 in 2008, 14-7 in 2009, 45-29 in 2010 and 30-7 in 2011. The 2006 and 2010 games were played in Pittsburg and the 2008 contest was played in Welch Stadium, Emporia, host site of the 2012 game.
Bennett’s teammates on the East squad include Jayden Bowen (Crest), Dan Durbin (Fort Scott), Zach Gougler (Galena), Ivory Kelly (Parsons) and Quinton Schooley (Chanute), players from schools in the Southeast Kansas, Crawford-Neosho-Cherokee and Three Rivers leagues.
“Everybody talks with everybody,” Bennett said. “Everybody’s real cool.”
Justin Fulks (Blue Valley), Michael Glatczak (Centralia), Brandon Goodman (Paola), Austin Mendenhall (Neodesha), Logan O’Dea (Wellsville), Tanner Staats (Paola), Austin Veach (Doniphan West), Nick Walsh (Lyndon) and Marcus Williams (Gardner-Edgerton) are East members who played in 2011 games against either Pittsburg, St. Mary’s Colgan or Frontenac.
Bennett — a prominent starter on both the offensive and defensive line his senior year — will concentrate playing on the defensive line Saturday.
“We’re going to have a really good defensive line,” Bennett said. “Hopefully, we’ll be able to control most of the game.”
Bennett delivered 28 pancake blocks for the SEK League champions — helping pave running lanes for classmates Joe Wimmer and Marcus Striplin — and recorded 40 tackles from his defensive tackle position. Pittsburg upended No. 1-ranked Blue Valley (2010 Class 5A state champions) in district play but fell tantalizingly short of the playoffs.
For his outstanding line play on both sides of the ball, Bennett earned All-State recognition from the Topeka Capital-Journal (first team) and the Wichita Eagle (honorable mention), as well as his spot in the Shrine Bowl.
Bennett originally signed with Fort Scott Community College to play football but he will now ply his trade in both football and wrestling at Baker University, a four-year NAIA school where his older brother, Beau, attends and competes on the wrestling team. The Bennetts are the only brothers to each win individual state titles in the 30-plus-year history of PHS wrestling.
Here’s a few other players of note in the Shrine Bowl:
• Derrick Decker, Rose Hill (West): This 6-foot-5, 215-pound quarterback led the Rockets to a Class 4A state title, reeling off 13 straight wins after losing its season opener to Buhler. Decker signed with Pittsburg State — partly on the strength of numbers like 1,528 rushing yards and 14 passing touchdowns in 2011, both Rose Hill school records.
“He’s a great football player,” Pitt State head coach Tim Beck said of Decker in February. “He can play on either side of the ball but we’re probably looking at him as being either a quarterback or tight end. He did a great job of leading their team and he’s got a lot of growth potential at 6-5 but I’m not sure whether he’ll be at quarterback or tight end. We’ll let him figure that out when he gets here.”
In a recent article by Catch it Kansas, Decker said that he will have an open mind about whatever position he ends up at for Pitt State.
• Justin Fulks, Blue Valley (East): Fulks enjoyed a standout prep career, running for over 5,000 yards (5,111) and over 50 touchdowns (51), both new Blue Valley school records. Fulks struggled with injuries some of his senior year but he came back to form to lead Blue Valley to the state title game with 131 yards against Gardner-Edgerton in the semis, highlighted by a 80-yard TD on the opening play of the second half.
Fulks — along with Blue Valley classmates Kyle Zimmerman and Chris Foster — signed with Northwest Missouri as part of Adam Dorrel’s first recruiting class. “He is a playmaker that can go the distance any time he touches it,” Dorrel said of Fulks in the Maryville Daily Forum.
• Matt Reed, Wichita Heights (West): Reed went 29-2 as the Falcons’ starting quarterback and helped the Falcons win the 2010 Class 6A state title. Reed gained over 1,000 yards rushing both his junior and senior years.
Reed dominated in wrestling — undefeated records both his junior and senior years, two Class 6A titles and pins over the majority of his opponents — and this domination on the mat led him to sign with Oklahoma for wrestling.
In the Shrine Bowl last year, Reed’s former Heights teammate — running back Dreamius Smith — rushed for 132 yards and one TD on 14 carries against the East in the 30-7 blowout.
• Kole Schankie, Madison (West): The first recipient of the Dylan Meier Get Busy Livin’ Player of the Year led the Bulldogs to back-to-back state titles in Eight-Man Division I his junior and senior years and he ran for well over 100 TDs during his distinguished high school career.
“I read up about him (Dylan Meier) and he’s just an amazing guy,” Schankie said in April in Pittsburg. “You can learn a lot from him even though he’s not here anymore. I feel like he’s taught me a lot through everything that I’ve read about him. He’s an amazing guy.”
Schankie inked with Emporia State.
The Shrine Bowl will kickoff at 7 p.m., Saturday night. The 2-mile race starting time has been rescheduled to 7 a.m.
Kansas Shrine Bowl scores
1974 — East 16, West 14 (Lawrence)
1975 — West 3, East 0 (Manhattan)
1976 — West 28, East 24 (Wichita)
1977 — West 35, East 14 (Lawrence)
1978 — East 34, West 0 (Manhattan)
1979 — West 24, East 22 (Wichita)
1980 — West 30, East 15 (Lawrence)
1981 — West 34, East 7 (Manhattan)
1982 — East 12, West 7 (Wichita)
1983 — East 16, West 9 (Lawrence)
1984 — West 24, East 19 (Manhattan)
1985 — East 26, West 6 (Wichita)
1986 — West 42, East 20 (Lawrence)
1987 — West 14, East 7 (Manhattan)
1988 — East 31, West 27 (Topeka)
1989 — West 31, East 0 (Wichita)
1990 — West 32, East 0 (Lawrence)
1991 — West 44, East 29 (Manhattan)
1992 — East 25, West 21 (Topeka)
1993 — East 26, West 22 (Wichita)
1994 — West 18, East 15 (Lawrence)
1995 — West 24, East 7 (Manhattan)
1996 — East 13, West 7 (Topeka)
1997 — West 21, East 17 (Hays)
1998 — East 22, West 11 (Emporia)
1999 — West 28, East 21 (Wichita)
2000 — East 21, West 14 (Topeka)
2001 — East 12, West 12 (Manhattan)
2002 — West 27, East 13 (Pittsburg)
2003 — West 35, East 2 (Wichita)
2004 — East 29, West 12 (Emporia)
2005 — East 17, West 10 (Manhattan)
2006 — West 10, East 9 (Pittsburg)
2007 — West 26, East 7 (Hays)
2008 — West 29, East 28 (Emporia)
2009 — West 14, East 7 (Wichita)
2010 — West 45, East 29 (Pittsburg)
2011 — West 30, East 7 (Hays)
