Seekins takes starring role in Freedom Bowl Classic

A backup quarterback in the regular season turned into an MVP at an all-star football game Saturday night at McKenzie Stadium.

Gage Seekins of Hockinson threw four touchdown passes, leading the East stars to a 38-6 victory over West in the 2016 Freedom Bowl Classic, a charity game featuring recent graduates from Southwest Washington.

“It’s surreal right now. I can’t even put it into words,” said Seekins, who threw for 138 yards and connected with Mountain View receivers Anthony Ramirez and Kyle Moen for the four touchdowns.

“This award goes to my five offensive linemen and my wide receivers,” Seekins said.

Ramirez, who led the East with 57 yards receiving and also scored on a 2-point conversion, was named his team’s offensive player of the game. Moen, meanwhile, had three catches — two for scores — and a 2-point conversion. Ramirez was proud of all the Thunder points put on the board for the East.

Union’s Daniel Lundstedt was the East’s defensive player of the game. He had two sacks for a loss of 23 yards.

“Just thank God. This is awesome,” Lundstedt said. “I had an OK season at Union, but I always really wanted to be an edge rusher.”

At Union, he played nose tackle. In this game, he got to seek and destroy as a defensive end.

“I wanted to get a sack like that,” he said. “I thought about it before the game, but I didn’t actually think I’d do it.”

The Classic started off like it was going to be a classic.

Moen scored on a 13-yard TD reception for a 6-0 lead on the first possession of the game.

The West tied the game three plays later when Gunnar Blix of R.A. Long scored on a short run.

From there, though, it was all East.

Ramirez scored on a 35-yard pass from Seekins and Moen’s 2-yard TD pass from Seekins made it 22-6 at the half.

The West was finished just minutes into the third quarter. The team fumbled on its opening possession, leading to a Seekins-to-Ramirez 22-yard TD.

Then the West fumbled the ensuing kickoff. Dallas Goodpaster of Evergreen cashed in on a short TD run to make it 38-6, less than five minutes into the third quarter.

Columbia River’s Blake Duhamel was the West’s offensive player of the game. He caught four passes for 133 yards, setting up his team’s lone score with a 55-yard gain to the 2-yard line.

Blix was the West’s defensive player of the game. He knocked down two passes and was strong throughout the night from his linebacker position.

The game raises funds for Shriners charities. The players visited Shriners Hospital for Children in Portland earlier in the week.

“I’m really grateful to have been selected for this, to represent my community and Shriners Hospital,” Seekins said. “Really, those kids deserve this.”

“It was a great experience,” Lundstedt said. “Great group of guys. Every one of them should have won player of the game. And this is for a really great cause.

“Most fun I’ve had in football, honestly.”

EAST 38, WEST 6

East 14 8 16 0–38

West 6 0 0 0–6

First quarter

E — Kyle Moen 13 pass from Gage Seekins (run failed)

W — Gunnar Blix 2 run (pass failed)

E — Anthony Ramirez 35 pass from Seekins (Kimball Elliott pass from Seekins)

Second quarter

E — Moen 2 pass from Seekins (Elliott run)

Third quarter

E — Ramirez 22 pass from Seekins (Moen pass from Seekins)

E — Dallas Goodpaster 1 run (Ramirez run)

 Individual statistics

RUSHING: East — Dallas Goodpaster 10-20, Gage Seekins 6-5, Dakota Keyt 1-0, Lafitaga Sosene 6-22, Ulices Isordia 1-2, Team 1-(-15). West — Gunnar Blix 11-42, Brenden Algrie-Herman 8-(-30), Dustin Johsnon 4-19.

PASSING: East — Seekins 11-26-0-138, Goodpaster 0-1-0-0. West — Algrie-Herman 6-15-1-133

RECEIVING: East — Cole Walker 2-20, Moen 3-18, Goodpaster 1-2, Ramirez 2-57, Keyt 3-41. West — Blake Duhamel 4-133, Ryan Mayyniak 1-0, Blix 1-0.