All four players from the Shenandoah Valley made a good showing Friday night at the Virginia High School Coaches Association all-star football game at Hampton’s Darling Stadium. Their collective effort wasn’t good enough, however, to propel the West to victory.

 

After a scoreless first quarter, the East found paydirt four times for a 28-6 victory.

Phoebus star Colby Goodwin had the only score of the first half as the East took a 6-0 lead on his 21-yard touchdown run. Trailing 14-0, Caplinger, the former Broadway star, who started the game at quarterback, helped the West get on the scoreboard.

 

Caplinger set up the West’s only score with a 37-yard pass to West offensive MVP Tae Gilbert. Northside’s Philip Scott scored from 2 yards out several plays later. The West never got the extra point attempt off the ground.

 

“Well, we wanted to spread ’em out. We saw one safety and we read it the right way,” said Caplinger, who will attend the University of Virginia. “He broke open, and I got the ball to a great athlete. It felt great. We were having trouble with timing and miscommunication errors. To get a big play was just a relief. This was fun. I met a lot of really cool guys, and we’ll probably be friends for a pretty long time now.”

 

The West couldn’t sustain the momentum, however, as the East scored two more touchdowns to put any thoughts of a West rally to bed. Lorenzo Taliaferro scored on a 2-yard run and Andre Dickerson scored from 15 yards out in the final period.

 

Still, the local kids had their moments.

McDonagh, a two-time all-state center at Robert E. Lee, rotated in and out as the West’s center. The East’s defensive scheme didn’t put a lineman in front of center, so McDonagh had to read his assignments quickly.

 

“It’s similar to our offense at Lee, so I back block and go for linebackers, so I’m used to it,” said McDonagh, who is headed to Ferrum College in the fall. “I like the competition, and I like blocking big people because then I don’t have to worry about the quickness.”

Turner Ashby’s Linn came up with a huge third-and-goal stop in the second quarter, and he had a near interception in the West end zone in the first quarter.

 

“I came down with the ball, but he pulled back on my arm and it just fell out,” said Linn, who is headed to James Madison University in the fall. “I just tried to make sure he didn’t catch it after it fell out. It was fun. It was my last high school game, and I came out and played as hard as I could.”

Wimer, the Spotswood standout, had a huge third-quarter sack on third-and-2 in the red zone.

“Coach told me on the down to hug it tight and I listened,” said Wimer, who will join the Bridgewater Eagles football program. “It was a lot of fun. It was really hot at the beginning, but I had a lot of fun this week.”

 

Lee coaches David Tibbs and Mike Roark also enjoyed their week with the West stars.
“It’s one of the best things I’ve done in a long time,” Roark said. “It was bunch of athletes out there, good kids. We got to see them on the field and off the field. We had a blast.”

Of course, the Lee coaches would have liked a better result.

“We didn’t make the plays we needed to on offense,” Tibbs said. “We played great on defense, but we ran out of the gas in the second half.”

 

The West defensive MVP was Northside’s Nick Sigmon. The East defensive MVP was Frank W. Cox’s Derek DiNardo. Goodwyn and Gretna’s Dickerson shared the East MVP honors.

 

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