Schartz earns Shrine Bowl MVP, leads West to 21-20 win

Keenan Schartz threw for 124 yards and accounted for two touchdowns to claim his squad’s most valuable player award and lead the West Team to a 21-20 win in the 50th Shrine Bowl.

Meanwhile, his Manhattan teammate Jaxon Vikander made five tackles for the West, and Rock Creek’s Ethan Burgess caught two passes for 24 yards for the East. Wamego wide receiver Colin Donahue was also a member of the East Team, and Red Raider head coach Weston Moody served as the East’s defensive coordinator.

The annual game, played by the state’s best graduated seniors and led by the state’s top coaches, benefits Shriners Hospitals for Children and includes a week of activities in the leadup to the contest. The West Team held its training camp at Fort Hays State, while the East took up residence at Ottawa. Players also had the opportunity to visit Shriners hospitals.

Keenan Schartz, who went 16-of-18 passing and added 21 yards rushing, said participating in the Shrine Bowl was “the greatest thing I’ve done all summer.” In particular, he enjoyed getting to meet players from around the state and took advantage of late-night hang-outs to show his West teammates the film “The Shawshank Redemption.”

He was fortunate in that the West Team’s offensive scheme was not altogether dissimilar from that which he ran at Manhattan, featuring plenty of run-pass option and quarterback choice. Keenan Schartz benefited greatly from a handful of large, athletic receivers — including Kansas State commit Will Anciaux — to throw to.

“I trusted their athletic ability,” he said. “They made throwing the ball easy for me. Coach (Clint Rider of Blue Valley Northwest) kept the game plan kind of simple. With receivers like Anciaux, it’s pretty easy to throw it up and have that big guy come down with it.”

After a turnover on downs on its first possession, Keenan Schartz led the West on a nine-play, 50-yard drive. He set up a 1-yard touchdown carry by Salina Central’s Kenyon McMillian with a 23-yard completion to Hesston’s Jake Proctor on third down, in which he had to evade pressure and improvise in the backfield before finding his open receiver.

Two possessions later, Keenan Schartz found a diving Ty Smith of Circle right over the middle of the field for a 20-yard score, which put West on top 14-6 with 10:25 left in the second quarter. He made it 21-6 with a 2-yard touchdown scamper around the right side with 3:04 remaining in the third quarter.

The East came back with a few touchdowns of its own and attempted to take the lead with a 2-point conversion attempt with 5:22 left in the game, but the pass attempt from St. Marys quarterback Keller Hurla fell incomplete.

“I just knew we had to step up and make a play,” Vikander said of defending the 2-point attempt. “When he rolled out, I went and pressured him so he had to make a tough throw fast.”

Joe Schartz, who worked with the West Team’s quarterbacks and running backs, said he appreciated the opportunity to coach Keenan Schartz and Vikander one more time, though he acknowledged there were several players on his Indians squad this year who would have been deserving.

He said all-star games are challenging to prepare for, as there is no game film, limited practice time and no assistant coaches in the press box. But the most difficult part for him was figuring out where to stand on the sideline, as he served as an assistant for the West despite spending the past 14 seasons as Manhattan’s head coach.

“It’s special just to have the opportunity to coach one more time and to be with these great players and coaches from the West,” he said. “We just had a blast out here. Keenan will remember this for a lifetime. And for it to be for such a great cause as Shriners Hospitals, we just had a fantastic time out here in Hays.”

While his team didn’t win, Moody said his experience at the Shrine Bowl was “amazing.” Not only did he get to have another chance to take the field with Donahue after thinking that had ended with the 4A state championship game, but he also got to learn from other coaches on the East staff.

He said it was “extremely tough” to throw a bunch of players together to field a solid defense in such a short amount of time.

“You’ve got to pretty much analyze and evaluate what they’re good at in a couple of days,” he said. “We were practicing two-a-days, so it’s really tough. But these kids are the best in the state, so they picked it up pretty quickly.”

Burgess said it all felt “surreal” after the Shrine Bowl, even though his team wound up on the wrong side of the scoreboard. It was the largest crowd he’d ever played in front of, and he said he enjoyed the “big atmosphere.” But more than that, he loved getting to meet other players from all over Kansas.

“All these guys went from like, ‘I’ve heard of these guys but never talked to them,’ to all of a sudden, we’re best buds,” he said. “That’s what football does. I love it. I love it. I feel like I can talk to these guys about anything. It was a great experience. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

However, Burgess’ football career is far from over. He — along with Keenan Schartz and East Team MVP Hurla — will head to Washburn in a few weeks to play at the collegiate level. But Saturday was one more chance to put on the helmet with the “RC” emblazoned on the side.

“It was really special,” he said. “The community of Rock Creek is amazing, and it really felt good to be able to represent it one last time as wide receiver Ethan Burgess.”

Donahue will play at Washington University in St. Louis, and Vikander landed on the roster of Washburn’s MIAA rival Missouri Western.

It seemed fitting for Manhattan’s players to take on major roles in leading the West to a Shrine Bowl victory after the Indians went 13-0 in 2022 en route to the 6A state championship. It may have just been a coincidence, but even the final score — 21-20 — was identical to the score of the 6A title game.

“I see that as just another sign that it’s a special year,” Joe Schartz said. “It was the same type of atmosphere, coming down to the last seconds of the game, and the defense made a play.”