It’s been a week and we still can’t get it out of our mind.

The fantastic finish to the CHaD East-West High School All-Star Football Game, that is.

It might just end up being, in the next to last week of June, the event of the summer when it comes to local sports.

The Silver Knights have been struggling mightily and the odds are now, sorry to say, heavily against a title repeat. We’ll see if Nashua golfer Brandon Gillis can repeat as State Am champ. Hey, maybe Coffey Post has a Senior American Legion state title in it when the tourney is at Holman Stadium in another three weeks.

But right now the leader in the clubhouse is the CHaD game, won by the local-dominated West team, 13-10, in double overtime at Saint Anselm College’s Grappone Stadium.

Double OT. Really? For an All-Star game? But it wasn’t just that; it was the way the West celebrated when East kicker Ethan Moss of Exeter saw his field goal attempt go wide left.

They went nuts. Heck, they were going nuts during the game, on the field, on the sidelines, and above the field. A quarter spent up in the press box next to the West coaches booth and these ears are still ringing.

It was a spectacular finish in front of a crowd of large crowd, some of whom gathered behind the netting around the end zone where the overtimes were taking place.

The game was a great example of how you put a bunch of kids on a field against each other and throw a ball out there, and they will go all out. All-Star game? Stars, yes, but it would have never been confused with the joke that professional All-Star games have become. This was the throwback to Pete Rose barreling over Ray Fosse in the 1970 MLB All-Star classic. Look it up on line, the zillions of you who have no clue as to what we’re referring to.

We still remember the big tackle Bishop Guertin grad Jakob Baker made to prevent an East TD on their first OT possession. Baker, after the game, was one of the happiest (former) high school football players we’ve ever seen. It’s a shame he’s opting not to continue his career when he heads down to the University of Tampa.

“Oh man, they were blocking me hard the whole game,” Baker said. “I really wanted one stat – one stat I wanted to end my season, it was probably the best way I could have ended it. The celebration at the end, letting all the energy go. And then winning was the best feeling, the best feeling leaving it off like this.”

They went all out in last Friday’s CHaD All-Star Game as shown by Timberlane’s Matt Williams trying to pull down Bishop Guertin’s Matt Santosuosso with his former Cardinal teammate Jakob Baker blocking for him. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

See? This meant something. You could see how a two groups of players who hadn’t played with each other formed two solid teams and competed like crazy. One team celebrated, and another team was truly disappointed. It had that championship game feeling. Incredible.

“For me,” Team West and Merrimack coach Kip Jackson, one of the classiest people you’ll ever meet, said of the whole event, “this was one of my favorite experiences ever.”

Like we said, as we begin July, the leader in the clubhouse. By far.

Tom King can be reached at tking@nashuatelegraph.com, or on twitter @Telegraph _TomK.

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