South tops North in weather

Stu Pospisil takes a look at recent record-breaking performances on the track plus the latest baseball rankings where a team climbs to the top again.

KEARNEY, Neb. — It was the first Shrine Bowl played with a running clock. No halftime, either.

It teetered on being the first not to be completed since 2015 and the second ever.

The 65th renewal, at UNK's Cope Stadium, started 25 minutes late because of lightning — the teams couldn't take the field for warmups, trimmed to 20 minutes, until after the scheduled 6 p.m. kickoff — and then was halted for about an hour, 45 minutes in the first quarter by occasional bolts in the vicinity.

"We were hearing all kinds of stuff in the locker room that it was over, that we were going home,’" South running back Cal Newell from Lincoln Southwest said. "We were all checking the weather apps on our phones, seeing what was going on.

"I’m really glad we got to get the game in."

When it resumed, the South wiped out an early 7-0 lead by the North to take a 17-7 win before what was left of a crowd estimated at 2,500.

CNewell and Carlos Collazo from Aurora ran for scores and Nate McCashland from Lincoln Southeast made it a two-score game with a 33-yard field goal with 5 minutes left.

Newell (offense) and the South's Ayden Barnby from Papillion-La Vista South (defense) were voted the players of the game by members of the news media.

Newell had eight carries for 70 yards and an 18-yard touchdown. Barnby had four tackles, 2½ for losses, a pass breakup and a quarterback hurry.

"Cal was fantastic. Really, all three of our running backs were fantastic," said Platteview's Mark McLaughlin, the South coach. "Cal ripped off a couple runs and had a nice catch over the middle.

"Lance Rucker (Millard South) and Ayden roomed together. I went in that room earlier today and told them there's not a soul on that field that can block them and I wasn't wrong."

While Saturday's weather tested patience, it wasn't the worst for a Shrine game. That would have been the inaugural in 1959 at Municipal Stadium (not yet named Rosenblatt) in Omaha. A lightning display much better than Saturday's caused postponement to the following night.

Starting this year's electric moments of the non-dangerous sort was the 68-yard return of the opening kickoff by North Platte's Kolten Tilford for the North, which set up the 20-yard touchdown pass play on the next play from Pierce's Abram Scholting to Wayne's Alex Phelps.

After the game was suspended for 1:44, resuming at 8:26 p.m., Norfolk Catholic's Karter Kerkman got the North out of a hole — third-and-27 from its 2 — with a 53-yard run.

The South's tying touchdown drive in the first half overcame near-disaster on the first play after a punt. Collazo picked up a fumble — quarterback Treyven Beckman from Kearney lost the ball inside the 10 — and tossed the ball forward to Seward's Micah Hackbart for 14 yards to the 34.

"I’ve never seen anything like that before," Newell said. "You know, we’re taught to just fall on it. But when he did that, I was amazed."

Two plays later, Adonis Hutchinson from Lincoln High went 54 yards with a pass from Treyven Beckman from Kearney to the 18. On second down, Newell went the rest of the way.

McLaughlin was holding the reason he said the teams didn't want to go home early — 8-year-old Emberlyn Hemmer, a Shriners Hospital Twin Cities patient.

"When you hear these 18 year old sweethearts talk about I'm in love with this person, that little girl, you go in the locker room and you remember, you refocus and come back out and play for something you love and they did that tonight," McLaughlin said.

"The entire week is special in so many different areas. You get to connect with 45 kids that you don't know very well. And those relationships last around a long time. So that's special. You get to see these patients and why this game is important.

"Not very often would you rain delay for hours and hours and hours but this game matters."

South ......... 0 7 7 3 — 17

North ......... 7 0 0 0 — 7

N: Alex Phelps (Wayne) 20 pass from Abram Scholting (Pierce). Nolan Eloe (Amherst) kick

S: Cal Newell (Lincoln Southwest) 18 run. Nate McCashland (Lincoln Southeast) kick.

S: Carlos Collazo (Aurora) 1 run. McCashland kick.

S: FG 33 McCashland​

[email protected], twitter.com/stuOWH

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Reporter - High school sports

Stu is The World-Herald's lead writer for high school sports and for golf. Follow him on Twitter @stuOWH. Email [email protected]

Stu Pospisil takes a look at recent record-breaking performances on the track plus the latest baseball rankings where a team climbs to the top again.

Shrine Bowl Day! Check out a photo gallery from the game on Saturday in Kearney.