East-West Shrine Game : Cunningham Leads West to 21-10 Victory

Randall Cunningham, a 6-4 quarterback from Nevada Las Vegas, was named the game’s most valuable offensive player after leading the West to a 21-10 victory Saturday in the 60th annual East-West Shrine Game before a crowd of 72,000 at Stanford Stadium.

Cunningham, the younger brother of former New England Patriots fullback Sam (Bam) Cunningham, caught a touchdown pass on a flea-flicker, threw for another touchdown and passed for 186 yards while sharing time with Oklahoma State quarterback Rusty Hilger.

The East opened the scoring in the first period after Wisconsin defensive lineman Scott Bergold recovered a fumble by Cunningham on the West 23.

Colgate quarterback Steve Calabria threw a pass to Tennessee running back Johnnie Jones, who stepped out of bounds a foot from the goal line. On the next play, Jones ran up the middle for the touchdown and a 7-0 lead.

Cunningham then began a 43-yard drive that ended with a flea-flicker touchdown play early in the second quarter.

After completing an 8-yard pass to Arizona’s Vance Johnson and an 18-yarder to Fresno State’s Larry Willis, Cunningham ran twice and threw a short pass to move to the East 3-yard line. Cunningham then threw a lateral pass to Johnson, who faked a run and lofted a pass to a wide-open Cunningham in the end zone, tying the game at 7-7.

The West took the lead later in the period when Hilger came in and and marched the team 83 yards in six plays to make it 14-7 at the half. Hilger fired passes of 29 yards to Colorado State’s Keli McGregor, 38 yards to Washington’s Danny Greene and 5 yards for a touchdown to Willis.

Ricky Anderson of Vanderbilt, the nation’s leading kicker this season, missed his first chance to narrow the lead late in the second period when his 36-yard field goal attempt struck the right goal post and bounced back.

In the third period, however, Wisconsin’s Richard Johnson intercepted a Hilger pass on the West 25, and Anderson booted a 35-yarder to make the score 14-10.

Cunningham marched the West 76 yards in 11 plays in the fourth quarter, capping the drive with a 15-yard touchdown pass to Terry Orr of Texas.