STORY TOOLS

• E-mail story
• Comments
• iPod friendly
• Printer friendly

More Football Recruiting

• Vols' interest in Jackson picks up
• Low-down on Texan: He likes UT
• Lineman Boyd getting plenty of attention

Share and Enjoy [?]

Get Reprints

Want to use this article? Click here for options!

JEFFERSON CITY — Although four of the seven state football championship trophies reside east of Nashville, the East team still had something to prove.

A trash-talking session with the West all stars Friday just didn’t accomplish anything.

But Saturday afternoon’s 20-point victory did. The East won bragging rights in the first Toyota East vs. West Tennessee All-Star Classic at Carson-Newman College, 26-6.

Randall Cobb (Alcoa), Brent Burnette (Maryville) and Jake Ryan (West) — the East’s quarterback rotation — each produced touchdown drives. The East ground game, led mostly by Brian Marshall (Ooltewah), Andre Sterling (Farragut) and Torey Works (Bearden), churned out 202 yards and four touchdowns on 34 carries.

Marshall had a touchdown and a game-high 92 yards on seven carries. Sterling rushed nine times for 24 yards and a score, and Works carried five times for 23 yards and a touchdown.

But the East defense headlined the showcase, picking off two passes and surrendering only 80 yards rushing. Loudon linebacker Ben Everett won the East team’s defensive MVP with five tackles and a sack.

“They came out in practice this week pretty intense,” said Cobb of his team’s defense. “They gave the offense a really good look (in practice). We knew the defense would be tough to stop.”

Cobb was named East offensive MVP award. He passed for 87 yards and rushed for 23 on four carries — all in front of University of Tennessee assistant football coaches Matt Luke, Kurt Roper and Steve Caldwell.

Event officials hope that in the future some participants will make their college commitments on the East vs. West stage. But for now, Cobb’s still undecided.

The Kentucky commitment is considering the Vols and said that he’ll take official visits to the schools in January before any decision is announced.

Cobb said the job stability of Kentucky quarterbacks coach and former Tennessee offensive coordinator Randy Sanders is “a big factor for me right now.” Cobb also said that Tennessee offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe’s departure for the head-coaching job at Duke won’t affect his consideration of UT.

“I’m sure they’re going to bring in somebody that’s going to get the job done,” said Cobb. “I’ll go talk to him and see how everything works out.”

Early on, everything worked out for the East. It needed just nine plays for a 7-0 lead. A Cobb-to-Sterling, 36-yard screen pass on third-and-8 pervaded West territory, and six plays later fullback Elijah Bible (Tennessee High) plunged in from the 2.

West came back with a three-and-out. Its 25-yard punt didn’t help matters. The East, with a short field and Burnette under center, went ahead 13-0 on a Works 1-yard run with 3 minutes, 31 seconds remaining in the first quarter.

And with that, the East backed up its boasting.

“We had a big time in Gatlinburg last night, and both teams were chanting at each other,” said East coach Mark Pemberton of Catholic. “They were putting us (the teams) through those Ripley’s things, and they started chanting ‘East side’ and the other ‘West side.’ I knew it was going to be (intense) in the first half, a lot of jawing.”

West responded with a 15-play, eight-minute drive, but it ended in a missed 25-yard field goal attempt. It missed a 38-yarder fewer than 20 seconds before the half.

Marshall’s 54-yard, highlight-reel touchdown run was sandwiched between the kicking blunders. Sterling found the end zone early in the fourth quarter for a 26-0 lead.

“I’m disappointed right now,” said West coach Glenn McCadams of Lipscomb. “We got to score (late), but we wanted to make a game out of it. You always go into it with optimism, thinking you can. But it wasn’t meant to be.”

© 2007, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.