The 2010 Cactus Bowl is a Division-II Senior All-Star game that moved from North Dakota to Kingsville, Texas in search of warmer weather. It's fair to say that weather had other plans tonight. It wouldn't derail the performance of Porter grad Billy Garza. The senior QB had 146 passing yards and the game's only touchdown, leading the West to victory 16-nothing. Also playing in tonight's game was Jorge Guerra from Roma.
KINGSVILLE, TEXAS - The West All-Stars put together a superlative defensive effort in shutting out the East All-Stars, 16-0 at the 16th Valero Cactus Bowl on Friday night at Javelina Stadium.
With temperatures near freezing at kickoff, the game appeared likely to be a defensive battle. As play began it became apparent that the defenses would rule the night.
Twice, the West drove inside East territory in the first half. The first time the East defense stopped a fourth down and on the second drive Sam Scott (West Chester) forced a fumble that was recovered by Tony Harp (Abilene Christian).
Each time the West defense responded by quickly getting the ball back. They limited the East to just 15 first quarter yards.
Near the end of the first quarter, West quarterback Billy Garza (Texas A&M-Kingsville) directed the offense into the Red Zone thanks to his own 12-yard run and a 26-yard pass play to Daniel Nichols. Facing a third-and-3 at the 10-yard line, Garza connected with Jerome Hewitt (Southeastern Oklahoma) for a touchdown on the first play of the second quarter.
Garza led the West on two more scoring drives in the second quarter. First, he led the team to the East 31-yard line before stalling out and settling for a Garrett Rolsma (Central Washington) 48-yard field goal, a new Valero Cactus Bowl record. Then, he was fortunate when Jermelle Cudjo (Central Oklahoma) forced a fumble that was recovered by Marcus Phillips (Tarleton State) at the East 24-yard line giving the West excellent field position.
The East defense came up big as they forced the West to settle for a field goal. Rolsma booted through the 34-yarder with 56 seconds left in the half.
Behind excellent defensive line play, the West limited the East to just 17 yards rushing on 16 carries and 23 yards passing in the first half.
In the second half, the East had the ball into West territory on five occasions, but was never able to get close enough to even try a field goal.
The West added a third Rolsma field goal at the start of the fourth quarter, a 40-yard effort.
The West defense had a total of eight tackles for loss for a total of 44 yards. It was a team effort as no one player had more than seven tackles, but 10 players had at least four tackles. Zack Watkins (Washburn) led the team with seven tackles while Phillips had 1.5 tackles for loss, a fumble recovery and a pass break-up. The defensive secondary was particularly effective as they held the East to just 11-for-34 passing and 87 yards. Overall, the East had a total of 121 total yards of offense.
Garza was named the Offensive Player of the Game after passing for 146 yards on 15-of-27 passing and one touchdown. He also rushed for 33 yards on six carries. Hewitt was the team's leading receiver with five catches for 58 yards and a touchdown. Johnny Spevak (Central Washington) also had five catches for 37 yards. Trevor Harris (Edinboro) was 10-for-13 for 97 yards and one interception passing.
LaRon Council (Northwest Missouri State) led the West rushing attack with 55 yards on 10 carries. The West had 137 yards on 33 carries for the game.
The East did not have many offensive highlights. Jarom Freeman (Albany State) led the team with 24 yards rushing on seven carries. Nick Graziano (Arkansas Tech) went 9-for-20 for 52 yards passing while Reggie Smith and Mike Harris each had three receptions.
The East defense was led by Sam Scott who was named the Defensive Player of the Game after tying a Cactus Bowl record with 14 tackles. He also had two forced fumbles and one tackle for loss. Scott's college teammate Mike Dell (West Chester) was the team's second leading tackler with seven stops.
The Jim Langer Offensive Lineman of the Game Award was handed out to J'Marcus Webb (West Texas A&M).
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