Recaps (2009-2018)

GAME TWENTY ONE
December 4, 2009 – Edison Stadium

For the second time in 21 years the game went into overtime. The North, with seven Division 1 recruits on its roster and heavily favored, needed a blocked field goal attempt, a missed field goal try and a clinching four yard touchdown run in overtime by James Holland (EL) in securing the 13 to 7 victory. The South had several chances but just could not cross the goal line, Tre Boston (NFM) and a Cincinnati recruit caught 4 passes for 79 yards in winning the North team’s MVP Award. Savon Seward (CL) took the South MVP Award rushing for 116 yards on 16 carries.

 

GAME TWENTY TWO
December 15, 2010 – Edison Stadium

Perhaps the South team felt they had the best team, but North took over early and were never behind in the game, played on a very cold December night. Several players have committed to play at some big time college teams. Tailback Terrell Davis of East Lee High School was the MVP player for the North team with some great catches and runs. Chris James of Dunbar High School played and outstanding game as corner back with interceptions, one for 50 yards. On offense, he scored on an 18 yard pass from quartrerback Dallas Crawford of South Fort: Myers High School. Chris James was also voted MVP for the South team. The 15 head coaches had a great week of practice, ending Monday evening with a great banquet with over 400 guests who listened to an outstanding speech from Ohio State’s head football coach Jim Tressel. The South team has won 14 and the North team 7, with one game ending in a 28-28 tie.

 

GAME TWENTY THREE
December 7, 2011 – Edison Stadium

The North, which has won five straight in the series that features Lee Countys’ top senior football players, opened with some trickery on its first play. Riverdale wide receiver Gabriel McNulty, on a reverse, fired a strike to Evangelical Christian’s Jordan Phillips for a 33-yard touchdown. North kept the momentum on its side by scoring on its second play of the game as quarterback Tyler Viens hit his ECS teammate Colby Lynch on a 10-yard score. Reece Attwood found his Cape Coral-Baker teammate Hunter Urraro for a 32-yard touchdown pass before the Estero connection of Ryan Sides and Justin Milcetich hooked up for South’s lone score on a 25-yard touchdown to make it 20-7 at the break.

Sides had a busy night as he completed 18 passes for 156 yards. Milcetich (7 catches, 72 yards) and fellow Estero receiver Zach Culvahouse (7 catches, 76 yards) were the South’s top playmakers. Mariner’s Andrew Torres doused the South’s comeback hopes in the third quarter when he picked off a Sides pass in the end zone and returned it 80 yards before losing the ball on a fumble. A 23-yard field goal by ECS’s John Lunsford – who later came up short on a 61-yard attempt – and a 15-yard run by Cape Coral’s Justin Thibodeau concluded the scoring in the fourth quarter.

Most Valuable Player awards were doled out to North Fort Myers’ Steven Mercado – who was a noticeable force on the defensive line for the North – and Dunbar’s Tajarvis Fuller. NFL players Corey Lynch and Phil Buchanan took part in the MVP ceremony with four minutes left in the game. Despite the loss, the South still holds a comfortable 15-7-1 series lead.

 

GAME TWENTY FOUR
December 5, 2012 – Edison Stadium

Carrying the burden of a five-game losing streak, the South team turned to its defense to reverse its fortunes. That unit didn’t disappoint, forcing two turnovers and limiting the North squad to 181 total yards of offense in a 14-0 win. The South’s defensive front, keyed by tackles Fequierson Charles (Fort Myers) and Joe Fennell (South Fort Myers), stuffed the North running game, which mustered just 69 yards on 32 carries.  That forced the North to rely on the arm of its lone quarterback, Cape Coral’s Trey Daniels, who completed 17 of 37 passes, but for just 105 yards and two interceptions, both by Cypress Lake’s Dedrick White.

The South got all the points it needed on the game’s opening drive. Following a 45-yard kickoff return by South Fort Myers’ Robert Brown, the South team drove 45 yards in seven plays behind Fort Myers quarterback Andrew Dailidonis and grabbed a 7-0 lead on a leaping 37-yard touchdown catch by Dunbar wide receiver Johnell Barnes.

The South appeared poised to add to its lead late in the second quarter, but Mariner’s Jaylen Mitchell picked off Estero quarterback Christian Phillips at the North 29 with 2:31 left in the first half. But the South defense forced a three-and-out and after a short punt, got the ball back at the North 33 with 1:27 left. Another fourth down completion by Dailidonis, this one to Lehigh’s Jesse Lastra, moved the ball to the 16 with 54 seconds remaining. Four plays later, Dailidonis again hooked up with Barnes, this time for a 12-yard touchdown that made it 14-0 on the final play of the first half.

In the second half, the North team didn’t advance the ball deeper than the South 49 and never seriously threatened to break the shutout, the fourth in the game’s history, but the first since a 48-0 win by the South in 2000.

Barnes, who caught four passes for 72 yards and both of the game’s touchdowns, was named the game’s MVP for the South. Riverdale defensive back Kendall Beck, who had an interception and a forced fumble, was the North’s MVP.

 

GAME TWENTY FIVE
December 11, 2013 – Edison Stadium

In a game full of defensive intensity, the South team came out ahead for the 17^th time the night of the All-Star Classic’s silver anniversary. The first touchdown was scored by the North team’s Malcolm Smith on a pass from Caleb Chapman. Ryan Keegan of Estero High scored for South team with an 11-yard run and finished with 57 yards on 10 carries. D’Ronzjiah Matthews, a South Fort Myers linebacker, scored on a 36-yard interception run. Travis Breaman, also from South Fort Myers, had two sacks, a fumble recovery, a forced fumble and a handful of tackles. Pierce LaPrey of Bishop Verot returned a fumble 60 yards for a touchdown and a 20-6 lead in the second half. A fourth quarter touchdown was scored by the North team’s Rhasheed Jiles on a pass from Caleb Chapman, and another point on a kick by Filander Barahona. Both MVPs selected for this game were defensive players: the North team’s Christian Diaz of Island Coast and the South team’s Pierce LaPrey of Bishop Verot.

 

GAME TWENTY SIX
December 10, 2014 – Edison Stadium

The first half of the 26th annual match-up saw both offenses struggling mightily. The South team scored 7 on a 15-yard fumble return touchdown by Andre Thomas-Cobb (Lehigh) and a kick by Weston Cole (Bishop Verot). During the second half, Island Coast receiver Reshad Washington provided the North team with some much needed momentum, turning a short pass into a 45-yard touchdown and tying the game at 7-7 in the 3rd quarter with a kick by Grant Young. A 38-yard pass from Riverdale’s Jesse Lighthall to Washington early in the fourth quarter set up a five-yard touchdown by Josh Eugene from Mariner.  Washington’s performance throughout the game earned him the North’s MVP award – following in his older brother, 2006 MVP Quenton Washington’s footsteps.  Fort Myers’ Ryan Watts blocked the North team’s point-after-touchdown attempt.  That block, along with two sacks and 10-plus tackles earned Watts the South’s MVP award.  the South team got its running game going and went on to score 6 more points tying the game once more at 13-13. In a down-to-the-wire finish, the South team’s kicker Weston Cole successfully completed a 27-yard field goal in the final seconds of the game for a 16-13 South victory.

 

GAME TWENTY SEVEN
December 9, 2015 – Edison Stadium

This year’s action started quickly as the North team jumped out to an early 8-0 lead when quarterback Jason Diggs (Ida Baker) broker out for a near fifty-yard run to set up running back Antonio Greaves (Island Coast) one-yard touchdown mid-way through the first quarter. Diggs’ feet proved effective again early in the second quarter when he scored North’s second touchdown on a ten-yard run.  With Greaves pounding his way up and down the field, Diggs controlling the tempo of the offense, and the South team racking up penalties, it looked as though the North team controlled the game. However, shortly before the end of the half, after a failed South forth down conversion on their own 25-yard line, North running back Willie Johnson (South Fort Myers) took advantage of the field position and took the ball into the end zone on a four-yard run, making the score North 15, South 8 at halftime.  While the North team dominated much of the first half, the same couldn’t be said for the second half, as the final 24 minutes turned into a showcase for Johnson. Showing blazing speed and cunning instincts on both sides of the ball, Johnson took over the second half, scoring another offensive touchdown and hauling in two interceptions, one of which he returned for a touchdown. Led by Johnson’s efforts, the defense clamped down on the North team forcing Diggs into throwing five second-half interceptions on their way to scoring 22 unanswered points and a 30-15 victory. After the game, both teams met at mid-field and watched as Johnson was awarded the MVP award for the South while Greaves took home the MVP honors for the North. In addition, cheerleaders Kendall Attwood (North) and Zoe Michael (South) were awarded the Spirit awards for their respective squads.

GAME TWENTY EIGHT
December 7, 2016 – Edison Stadium

Back and forth the 28th annual Rotary South All-Star game went, but in the end it was the South that used a last ditch 85-yard kick return by Fort Myers senior Darrian Felix to secure a 46-41 win, cap-ping off the most points ever scored in the annual game. Felix, who was named the South’s MVP, scored three touchdowns on the night, including the game’s most important points. But Benjamin had the most combined yards, and South Fort Myers run-ning back E’Quan Dorris’ 70-yard run in the third frame engineered a scoring bonanza. Then there was North Fort Myers running back Zaquandre White, who was named the North’s MVP. All he did was score four touchdowns, including an 80-yard kick return in the third quarter. Riverdale’s Cole Schneider, a 6-foot-4, nearly 300-pound offensive lineman, scored a go-ahead touchdown for the North with 1:28 left in the game. Most thought the game was over by then until Felix answered on the ensuing kick. Benjamin finished with five carries for 108 yards and had five receptions for 19. Dorris finished with 85 yards on five carries and a score. Felix returned a kick and had 54 all-purpose yards. White ran the ball 14 times for 60 yards, returned kicks and even played at defensive back, leaving everything on the field in his last game in a Red Knights uniform.The first half was a methodical game marked by persistent rushing attacks. The North side rushed 21 times for 109 yards, including one 18-play drive to begin the second quarter that lasted over six minutes and finished with a 5 yard scamper by White in the end zone. But for every successful drive, the South answered. After trailing 14-0 to begin the game, they answered one series later with a 1-yard Felix touchdown.And on the next play, they capitalized on defense, with Southwest Florida Christian’s Dennis Morgan recovering a fumble in North territory. Fort Myers senior Dawson DeGroot tied the game up just minutes later on a five-yard pass from the Kings’ Chase Reed.

GAME TWENTY NINE
December 6, 2017 – Edison Stadium

This year, the South was victorious at the annual All-Star Classic.  Cortavius Lee, a quarterback this season for East Lee, threw deep right out of the gate to North Fort Myers High’s Joe Wilkins resulting in a 54 yard touchdown for the North squad. The South squad countered with an end-around option pass from Jeshaun Jones to Dunbar’s star receiver Shocky Jacques-Louis. The North added a 6 yard TD run by Connor Johnston before the half. There also were eight turnovers by halftime, including five interceptions. That’s not including a muffed punt by North, a punt block for South by Dunbar linebacker Rocky Jacques-Louis, and a punt snap through the end zone by the North squad for a safety as South pulled in front 23-13 in a wild first half.  The only quarterback on the South squad, Kobe Gee (a second-generation All Star son of ’95 Mariner graduate Brad Gee) was 8-of-19 passing for 101 yards with three touchdowns and one interception. Two scores came on beautifully thrown sideline passes, starting with a 29-yard fade to Shocky Jacques-Louis in the first quarter.  In the third quarter, Gee connected with South Fort Myers High receiver Austin Smith on a 20-yard strike to the back pylon that Smith had to out leap a defender in good coverage to haul in. He also hit Austin Smith with a 12 yard TD pass in the fourth quarter.  Xavier Perez’s 15 yard TD run and Chris Curry’s 29 yard TD run closed out the South’s scoring in the second half.

GAME THIRTY
December 5, 2018 – Edison Stadium

With a pair of touchdowns each, Freddie Ward from South Fort Myers and Quantavius Brown from Riverdale were named MVPs. Sporting more surefire Division-I prospects the South squad opened up a 20-0 lead in the second quarter on the way to a 40-14 victory. Dunbar’s Seneca Milledge also had a pair of rushing scores for South, which boasted the fearsome defensive line tandem of Lehigh’s Quashon Fuller and Dunbar’s Derrick Hunter. With North unable to get anything going on offense, Ward’s interception of a screen pass and 38 yard touchdown return helped stake South to a 20-0 lead. Brown who had 15 runs for 69 yards, got North on the board with 2:36 left in the half with the first of his two consecutive scores when the all-star
game rule popped up.  Before kicking off, the North sided – ultimately successful – for the application of an all-star rule that
calls for a team trailing by at least a nine points to receive the kickoff after scoring. North moved within field goal range before halftime, but missed from inside 40 yards. Opening the second half, a switch to North Fort Myers quarterback Jesse Charles, who added a running threat, helped spark the North offense. Brown scored from 8 yards out to make it 20-14. But in the end the South’s size and speed were too much. Cypress Lake’s Kelsey Demps scored on a 9-yard run, Milledge breezed in from 10 yards out and Ward added a rushing touchdown to go with his defensive score to close out the scoring with 4:35 remaining.