Team West celebrates another win in the 13th annual CHaD East-West All-Star Game Friday night at Saint Anselm's Grappone Stadium. (Photo by Cindy Lavigne)

MANCHESTER – It was a low-scoring game in the 14th annual CHaD East-West All-Star Football Game on Friday night at Saint Anselm College’s Grappone Stadium as Team West won its fifth straight game in the series by a final score of 13-7.

The first touchdown of the game came in the first half as Concord quarterback Colby Nyhan called his own number from the 19-yard line and rumbled in for the score with 11:54 to play in the second quarter. The ensuing extra point made it 7-0 for the West.

An insurance score for Team West came with just 2:40 left in regulation as Trevor Wong of Manchester Central walked in untouched to make it 13-0. The two-point try, however, was unsuccessful.

With 39 seconds left, Team East finally got on the board with seven points as Jeremy Mlocek (Timberlane) tossed a 16-yard touchdown pass to Campbell’s Scott Hershberger to eliminate the shutout. Despite an onside kick attempt from the designated home team, Team West came up with the ball and ran out the clock with a QB kneel to clinch their first CHaD game victory in five years.

Both teams were ground and pound heavy as neither side could establish a passing game, allowing running backs from both sides to take on majority of the action on offense. There were three interceptions thrown, two of which were thrown by the losing team.

Team East ran the ball 55 times, compared to nine pass attempts, recording 198 yards on the ground. Kevin Todisco of Salem led the charge with 80 rushing yards to his credit.

Team West rushed for 157 yards with 34 rushes. The visitors did throw the ball for 75 yards, with the longest pass of the night going to Merrimack Valley’s Michael Heine from Bedford’s Jack Maye for a 30-yard pickup in the fourth.

Two missed field goals, one per side, also kept the scoring down. Team East first missed wide right with 47 seconds left in the first half while Team West missed on a miss-kick from 21 yards out with 4:06 left in the fourth.

Hershberger, who had 42 yards rushing on 11 carries, talked about his week-long experience culminating in tonight’s game, saying “It’s been amazing. I’ve loved playing with everybody and competing against other divisions and kind of seeing what else, what other competition is out there. It was really kind of eye-opening. and I loved.”

Tonight was Hershberger’s final high school game as he is set to head to Durham to join the University of New Hampshire’s squad this summer. “Man, I’m looking forward to just being with a group of guys that have each other’s backs and the family aspect of it,” he said about the new opportunity. “This is a great like test for myself to see how I do against some maybe higher-level competition, and you know I’m optimistic.”

Steve Abraham, head coach of Team East and Salem, spoke after the narrow loss: “That was a great game. We had football chances. We outgained them. We moved the ball up and down the field and then we just didn’t finish, you know, but we battled to the end. We’re coming down there and we score and on side.”

“The kids never quit, and I told them what I was most proud of is. … This was the cleanest game,” Abraham continued. “This was like a respectful football game. Played the way it’s supposed to. So, I’m very proud of both teams for that, and that was a message I know that Coach Jackson (Team West/Merrimack) and I were talking all week after last year, so I’m very proud of the kids for that. That’s a great football game.”