Photograph by George Sakkestad
Fremont's Tom Jimenez was in on seven tackles to figure among the defensive leaders in the all-star football game.
By DICK SPARRER
In an all-star game, it's the honor of being selected and competing that's most important. Winning is secondary.
Yeah, well the South team wasn't buying that theory when it came time for the playing of the 22nd annual Charlie Wedemeyer All-Star Football Game last Friday night at San Jose City College.
The North rode a five-game winning streak into the 1996 all-star game, and had outscored the South 89-15 over the last three years. Those facts were not lost on the members of the South squad.
"In practice, we talked about it," Willow Glen's Bryan Navarrette said of the North's recent domination of the game. "We wanted to end the streak."
And end it they did. The Southerners dominated the football over the final three periods on the road to a streak-ending 28-14 victory over the North.
And while there was a certain thrill in victory, there was also an agony in defeat, despite the fact it was an all-star game.
"In practice we were awesome," Joel Reikes of Saratoga said after the loss. "But we came out here flat tonight. We weren't playing up to our potential."
Five turnovers were proof of that. The North could not mount an offensive threat after the first period, and the South took advantage of the opportunity to fight back from a 7-0 deficit for the victory.
The North ran just one offensive play in the second period, and lost the ball on a fumble. The Northerners ran just six plays in the third quarter, then fumbled the ball away on the first play of the fourth.
Still, the North trailed just 21-14 and had control of the football with just over three minutes left to play. But the South's Jeff Hewitt (Live Oak) picked off a North pass, and Jason Sinatra (Silver Creek) scored from 31 yards out a couple of plays later to clinch the victory.
The South ran up 297 yards of total offense to just 57 for the North, and held the Yankees to a minus-two yards in the second period.
The Northerners took the early lead when a short South punt gave them great field position at the enemy 19 with 4:58 left in the first.
Miguel Valdillez (Mitty) capped a short three-play drive when he blasted over from the 3-yard-line with 2:55 remaining in the period.
The South battled right back, moving 81 yards in 10 plays to tie the game.
They didn't hold the lead for long, though. Errol Johnson (Palo Alto) hauled in the South kickoff at the two and raced 98 yards for a touchdown. Valdillez ran in for the 2-point conversion, and that quickly the North had moved back in front 14-7.
But the South came stomping right back for two more first-half touchdowns.
North quarterbacks Tony Medaglia (Mitty) and Dan Sullivan (Lynbrook) completed two passes each in the game.
Jeremie Braun (Homestead) worked in the offensive line for the North. Linebacker Joe Yuan (Saratoga) was the tackling leader for the North, getting in on eight tackles.
Tom Jimenez (Fremont) was another defensive leader with seven tackles, and Darren Svedeman (St. Francis) had a sack among his five tackles and also recovered a fumble. Leo Fisher (Homestead) had three tackles.
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, July 31, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.