MVP Phillips, South roar back to steal Lions All-Star Game

Nate Phillips hadn’t taken a single rep under center all week. Not one.

That job, he and the Lions South All-Stars figured, belonged to P.J. Wilson, Downey’s dual-threat quarterback.

Then it happened: Wilson felt his left shoulder start to separate and had to be removed from the 42nd annual Lions All-Star Football Game just before the intermission.

Head coach Jeremy Plaa turned to his emergency QB and hoped Phillips had some heroics left in his underrated right arm.

He had plenty.

With Phillips at the helm, the South scored 30 unanswered points in a record-setting, if not altogether surprising, 51-38 victory on Saturday evening at Tracy High’s Wayne Schneider Stadium.

The South’s point total was the most ever, breaking the 42 posted by the North in 2003.

Phillips was the game’s runaway MVP. He was 12 of 20 for 116 yards and three touchdowns, including a 2-yard flip to Jakob Magana for the go-ahead score with 6:46 remaining.

The Modesto Metro Conference’s co-MVP also had a team-high 72 yards on the ground and sealed the win with an 18-yard touchdown run with 30 seconds remaining.

He’ll play safety next fall at Taylor University in Indiana, but many will remember him as the ill-prepared QB who aced the final without ever opening the book.

The North owns a 24-16-2 advantage in the all-time series, but has now lost two of the last three to a Modesto Metro Conference quarterback.

Hawaii freshman and former Downey star Aaron Zwahlen kicked a game-winning field goal in the final seconds of the 2013 game.

“I was nervous,” Phillips said, “and that had nothing to with what I believe I can do. It had everything to do with not wanting to let my teammates down. The bond we made this week was incredible. I felt like we were a family and that’s a testament to how we finished this game.”

This type of finish wasn’t in the cards when the week began at Cal State Stanislaus.

Phillips was selected as a wide receiver and safety, but was thrust into a starring role in Plaa’s Spread offense after an injury to Wilson (12 of 21, 167 yards, two touchdowns).

Wilson was injured on a trick play late in the first half. He threw to Phillips in the left flat and then drifted up the right sideline. Phillips stopped and threw back across the field to Wilson, who tried to hurdle a defender.

Plaa said Wilson, bound for the University of Redlands in the fall, could feel his left shoulder separating before he was touched.

“That was the one thing I worried about on the bus ride over. ‘Man, I hope P.J. makes it today,’ because he has some bad shoulders,” said Plaa, coaching in the game for the second time. “Nate hung his head on his first series in the first half, but you could see that on every drive he was picking up confidence.”

Wilson was pulled after the play and watched the rest of the game in a sling.

He was treated to quite a show. The South trailed 38-21 at the half, but believed they were still very much in the game.

For starters, the South was aided by the game’s nine-point rule, which states that if a team is trailing by nine or more points it will retain possession of the ball even after a score.

The South also had Phillips, a charismatic leader and explosive playmaker. Plaa shrunk his playbook down to four base plays and equipped Phillips with two bull-dozing running backs: Buhach Colony’s Justin Stefani and Oakdale’s Frankie Trent.

Stefani and Trent would set the tone in the third quarter, softening the North defense with body blows.

“As a quarterback, it gets hard when you feel the pressure on you. You have to make the throws, the right runs and the right reads,” Phillips said. “But when you got two beasts like that in the backfield, it makes your job easier. I can sit back and watch those guys go to work.”

Their numbers weren’t overly impressive, especially when compared to the North’s slashers Nate Jones of Tracy (six carries, 128 yards, two touchdowns) and Kimball’s Rashaad Cooper (eight carries, 101 yards, one touchdown).

Jones was the Offensive Player of the Game, but was limited to nine yards on two carries in the second half.

Stefani and Trent weren’t named to the South roster to win a sprint. The twin 200-pounders were brought in to bludgeon and wear down the defense.

“They were in the background all week. We were trying to get this passing game down, while they worked the run game,” Plaa said. “And it wasn’t bright and shiny during practice.

“In the game tonight, a lot of times they were making their own holes, breaking tackles and spinning for 6, 7, 8 more yards.”

Trent carried the ball 13 times for 45 yards, while his physical match, Stefani, churned out a 66 yards on 10 touches.

Stefani’s 1-yard dive capped the South’s nine-play statement to start the second half, trimming the deficit to 38-27.

“We knew we were more physical than we showed in the first half,” Stefani said. “We got after them and started doing what we do best: run downhill.”

While they occupied the defense, Phillips picked his spots, building confidence under center.

He connected with Hughson’s Devondre Stendardo twice on the next drive, including a 12-yard strike that helped set up Sean Bingham’s 22-yard field goal to make it 38-30 with 5:19 remaining.

At long last, the North offense was set to return to the field.

With Jones and Cooper setting the pace early, the North appeared well on its way to breaking its own record for most points, but mighty mite Magana had other plans.

The Downey star fell on top of an onside kick to keep the ball in Phillips’ hands.

Phillips went 3 for 3 on the drive and tied the game by threading a pass over the shoulder of Gregori’s Matt Vargas for a 15-yard score. He connected with Stendardo for a two-point conversion, knotting the game at 38s.

The South was rising and Phillips would complete the takeover on their first possession of the fourth.

He started the drive with a 19-yard bullet to Vargas at the North 35. Stefani carried the ball 12 yards to the 23 and then set the edge for Phillips, who was pushed out at the 6.

Three players later, Phillips tossed a 2-yard lob to Magana that made it 45-38.

Smarting from its first-half follies, the defense capitalized on the momentum. Most Inspirational Player Alec Barcellos of Los Banos stood up Calaveras’ Connor Hamilton to force a punt and then tackled Sierra’s Hunter Johnson for a loss to force a punt on the next series.

Magana closed the game with an interception, his second of the night and 16th as a senior.

He was named the Defensive Player of the Game. Not bad for the little guy.

As is often case, the 5-foot-7, 150-pound Magana was the smallest player on the field.

“I’ve always been overlooked, especially being a shorter player, but I embrace it,” he said. “It helped me this season. It motivates me. I feed off that. I live off that.

This story was originally published June 14, 2015 at 12:43 AM with the headline "MVP Phillips, South roar back to steal Lions All-Star Game."