by Phil Martin, 6/16/05
The first Good Samaritan Bowl, played at the
Navy-Marine Corp Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, MD pitted high school stars from
the Baltimore and Washington, DC areas against one another. The West squad was
quarterbacked by VT signee Ike Whitaker, who was under pressure all game and had
a bad night: 4-of-23 with three interceptions. The East squad was headlined by a
Maryland signee and former VT recruiting target, DT Melvin Alaeze.
With
I-95 basically being the dividing line, the East squad consisted mainly of
players from the eastern Maryland suburbs and Baltimore area while the West
consisted of western Maryland suburbs, inner-city DC, and northern Virginia. The
East squad was noticeably larger with a full 44 participants whereas the West
squad only had 32 players. To be successful, the bowl game will have to be able
to recruit the more notable players from northern Virginia in the future to have
a balanced game (only a couple of Virginia players participated). This game was
basically an eastern vs. western Maryland all-star game.
The Naval Academy Stadium made a nice venue for
the all-star game. However, the crowd was sparse with maybe 2000 fans attending.
As would be expected, the first game was fairly chaotic with a number of initial
penalties for illegal substitutions and illegal procedures. The game had the
typical all-star game rules, such as only four players were allowed to rush (for
both passing plays as well as punts and field goals), and considerable
substitutions, including many players appearing on both offense and defense.
The effort was excellent for a game without
natural rivalries, but the execution was inconsistent. In general, the quality
of play in this game was a bit lower than the more mature all-star games, such
as the Virginia High School Coaches Association and North Carolina Shrine Bowl
games.
Game Summary
The East squad was obviously deeper and had
superior talent at wide receiver and the secondary. Also, the East defensive
line, led by Melvin Alaeze, created constant problems for the West offense. The
East won 35-23, but the game was not really that close. The West squad was
scrappy but simply outmanned and the superior talent and numbers on the East led
to a fairly easy victory.
The East squad started fast, scoring on a nice 66
yard bomb from QB Andrew DePaola to
WR Eric Westbrooks, but the extra point from Chris DeSautels was wide, leaving
the East with a 6-0 lead. The West came right back driving down the field, keyed
by a pretty 34 yard pass from Ike Whitaker to WR Scot Riddell, only to miss a
short field goal by Nick Scrivens.
The West defense held on the next possession and,
after a short punt, got excellent field position. After a short drive, keyed by
a couple of pass interference calls, RB Matt Castor punched it in from 5 yards
out and Scrivens hit the extra point for a 7-6 West lead.
The West got the ball right back after a fumble
caused by a big hit by DE Andre Graham at the 6 yard line. The East defense held
and the West had to settle for a short field by Scrivens to take a 10-6 lead.
The East rallied and drove the length of the
field for a short field goal by DeSautels, closing the gap to 10-9. The key play
on the drive was a 41 yard completion from QB Cory Yates to Westbrooks, who made
a nice grab in traffic. The West lost a big play on a 60 yard interception
return by Alfonzo Griffin when UVa signee Kevin Crawford was called for roughing
the passer. The East lost a touchdown when a 9 yard scoring pass from Yates to
Westbrooks was called back after a holding penalty.
The East got the ball right back after Scot
Riddell fumbled after catching a short pass. CB Jamari McCollough supplied the
big hit and FS Andrew Azodeh, who was also in on the hit, recovered the fumble.
After a couple of nice runs, WR Evan McCollough scored from 10 yards out on a
nicely set up reverse. DeSautels hit the extra point and the East led 16-10.
The West offense continued to struggle, turning
the ball over again. LB Victor McCray intercepted an underthrown pass by QB
Keith Ricca and returned it about 30 yards. Chris DePaola scored on a 12 yard
bootleg for the East, showing good speed to get to the corner. DeSautels kick
was blocked and the East began to pull away 22-10.
The West came right back though, keyed by a nice
46 yard pass from Ricca to WR Salim Koroma. Matt Castor plowed in from 2 yards
out and Scrivens converted the extra point to bring the West back to 22-17.
The East bounced back, scoring quickly on a 68
yard pass from Cory Yates to Westbrooks. Westbrooks got behind the secondary and
Yates threw a beautiful pass giving the East a 28-17 lead. The conversion
failed, but the East seemed to be in control.
Two more West drives were stopped by turnovers
before the half. Jamari McCollough intercepted an underthrown Ike Whitaker pass
returning it about 35 yards, but the East drive stalled. The West drove right
back keyed by an impressive 64 yard run by Matt Castor. The drive ended when Ike
Whitaker�s pass was intercepted by Aaron Hicks at the goal line. The East led
28-17 at the half in an exciting, wide-open game.
Play in the second half became much more
conservative, with the East establishing a running game behind Morgan Green.
Early in the half, the East drove down the field on some nice sweeps by Green
culminating in a 2 yard run. Desauntels kicked the extra point and the East took
a commanding 35-17 lead.
The West struggled on offense but did have a
couple of nice catch-and-runs from James McDonald � one on a screen from Ricca
and another on a �jump ball� from Whitaker. Back-to-back sacks by Melvin
Alaeze and Anthony Perkins stopped the West�s most effective drive. The East�s
defensive line, led by Alaeze, began to take control of the game. The third
quarter ended with the East still leading 35-17.
The fourth quarter was dominated by the defenses,
with the West�s best offensive play being a nice 14 yard pass-and-catch over
the middle by high school teammates Ike Whitaker and Darren Brownlee. The West
scored on a punt snap that sailed over Chris Desautels head and was recovered by
C.J. Herbert. The touchdown was a nice reward for Herbert, who had the difficult
task of blocking Melvin Alaeze for most of the game. The West failed to convert
a two-point conversion, leaving the score at 35-23. The game ended on a nice
interception and return by the West�s Justin Hamilton, who was just tripped up
by the last man between him and the goal line.
One incident that occurred late in the game
detracted from an otherwise cleanly played game (some trash talking but nothing
excessive). The West had a sweep go into the West sideline with lineman Augustus
Parrish pursuing the play for the East. Apparently Parrish was punched by a West
player on the sideline and he became extremely irate, having to be assisted to
his sideline by most of the coaching staff and other players. After the game
ended the teams lined up for the traditional handshake, but Parrish, when he
came up to Kevin Crawford, threw a punch. The coaches quickly diffused the
situation and led Parrish off the field, but the lack of sportsmanship certainly
detracted from the �Good Samaritan� Bowl.
The bowl named Eric Westbrooks as the MVP, which
was certainly not a surprise. Normally, all-star games name offensive and
defensive MVPs for each team, but the Good Samaritan Bowl did not, so I will
instead. Westbrooks had a huge game with 175 yards on 3 catches with 2
touchdowns (and another called back), so he certainly deserved the East
Offensive MVP. The Defensive MVP was Melvin Alaeze with one sack (for a 16 yard
loss) and numerous hurries. He forced the East to change their blocking schemes
and limited their play calling in trying to handle him. The West Offensive MVP
was running back Matt Castor, who scored two touchdowns and had an impressive 64
yard run. He also helped block Alaeze for much of the game and is one tough
football player. The West Defensive MVP was a more difficult choice, but I will
go with Joe Taylor, the middle linebacker who played a solid game with a couple
of tackles for loss.
Overall, the Good Samaritan Bowl has some kinks
to work out for it to be a successful all-star game in the future, but for a
first effort they did a nice job. Obviously, they need to receive more
commitment from the participants so that the numerous roster changes this year
don�t occur in future games. Also, more support will be needed from northern
Virginia to provide some equity in talent for the game, since the West squad was
clearly outmanned. I�m not convinced that the East/West division is the best
way to go, but unless the Virginia schools become committed to the game, there
is likely no other choice.
Ike Whitaker Scouting Report
Ike Whitaker (West #11, listed as #1, 6-5 205),
from Northwest High School in Gaithersburg, MD, was the biggest-name player in
the game and he showed that he deserved the publicity, despite sub-standard
statistics. The future Hokie was selected as a captain for the West and finished
the game 4-23 for 88 yards, 0 touchdowns and 3 interceptions. Not a great
performance by Whitaker, but he was under constant pressure and, frankly, his
receivers were seldom open. Of Whitaker's incompletions, about 6 were catchable
and another 6 or so were thrown away. Also, the East was called for 3 or 4
interference penalties, negating potential big plays.
Whitaker has all of the physical tools needed for
a D-1 quarterback - great size, athletic ability, and arm strength. He has the
ability to scramble and shows some decent speed, though he is not overly
elusive. He has a strong arm and shows good touch when he sets himself. In the
first quarter Whitaker made a nice pass to Scot Riddell on a deep out, showing
good touch while still having some zip on the pass. He also throws a nice deep
pass, barely missing a couple of long throws. However, Whitaker tends to throw
the ball into a crowd too much and needs to improve his decision making. He is a
competitor and he tried to make plays even when nothing was available, though
generally he tried to keep the ball away from defenders.
When pressured, Whitaker throws the ball off of
his back foot and his passes tend to hang. All of his interceptions came on
touch passes he underthrew because he didn�t set himself properly. Whitaker
reminds me somewhat of Chris Rix from Florida State in that both are big,
athletic quarterbacks with good tools, but sometimes they make questionable
decisions and tend to throw off their back foot when pressured. Whitaker will
need to work with Kevin Rogers on his mechanics, but all of these problems are
correctable. You could see that he is a competitor and showed good toughness and
leadership ability, so I believe he has the potential to be an excellent
quarterback after a couple of years of coaching.
The following links provide some commentary on
the individual players. I listed the player numbers (as best that I could tell),
since the program listings were generally incorrect, so if you catch the replay
on Comcast Sports, Thursday at 7:00PM, you can have better luck than I did
trying to track the players.
Scouting Reports: ACC Players
Scouting Reports: Non-ACC Players