Unsung Heroes Lift West Stars to Victory in All-Star Game

By the time Friday night’s Daily News All-Star football game got under way at Birmingham High, Jesse Wallace of Monroe High and Jamal Anderson of El Camino Real were sick of hearing about the East.

Oh, the East has Jerome Casey, people said. Oh, the East has Howard Blackwell, people said. Look at those East quarterbacks, people said. Mike Wynn and Rob Westervelt are going Division I.

Enough is enough, the West buddies decided.

Wallace rushed for 65 yards and a touchdown in 12 carries and Anderson rushed for 80 yards and two touchdowns in 15 carries as the West hung on to defeat the East for the fourth consecutive year, 20-13, before a crowd estimated at 5,000.

East drove to the West eight-yard line with less than a minute to play, but Wynn was sacked by Eric Hale and Joe Mahoney on consecutive plays to end the game.

A combination of Anderson, Wallace, Colin Havert (47 yards, nine carries) and Joe Tushnet (63 yards, six carries) outshone an East ground game that netted a mere 56 yards.

“They had more (publicity), but tonight was my night to shine,” said Wallace, who is considering playing at either Glendale College or L. A. City College. “Tonight, I got bit with a bug to play. I wanna go back to school and play.”

The West had to overcome a 13-7 East halftime advantage, forged on a 14-yard Greg Jones run and a 77-yard pass from Casey to Chad Miyata.

The Miyata score was perhaps the game’s most spectacular play. Casey took a lateral pass from Wynn and fired downfield to a wide-open Miyata, who coasted in.

Anderson scored on a one-yard plunge to account for the halftime score.

In the second half, the West took the lead for good, 14-13, on Wallace’s three-yard run with 10:57 left in the game. The score capped a 92-yard drive, highlighted by a nifty 35-yard cutback run by Reseda’s Tushnet on a delayed pitch from Wallace.

Armed with the lead, West went straight ahead on its next possession behind Anderson, who took seven consecutive handoffs from Danny Larson on a 51-yard drive.

Anderson capped the drive with a six-yard run with 5:29 left, making the score 20-13.

“I had a cramp,” Anderson admitted of his workload. “But when the game is going like that, you’ve got to put those things away.”

Despite its 13-7 halftime advantage, the East was dominated statistically in the first two periods.

Seventy-seven of its 94 total yards came on one play--the halfback pass involving Wynn, Casey and Miyata.

Wallace gained 46 yards rushing on eight carries for the West in the first half, and completed three of four passes for 41 yards. Anderson gained 39 first-half yards on seven carries.

Wallace’s quarterback teammate, Danny Larson of Birmingham, completed two of three passes for 32 yards.

Westervelt had a rough go of it in the first half, completing none of six passes for the East.