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| | Gilroy's Travis Reyes, left, and Danny Contreras greet each other mid-air as they come onto the field during player introductions for Wednesday's 34th Annual Charlie Wedemeyer All-Star Game at Spartan Stadium in San Jose.  For more pictures, check out our photo gallery.
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| | Photo by: Special to The Dispatch | | |
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| | Gilroy's Danny Contreras evades Wilcox's Brian Hwang during the fourth quarter of the Charlie Wedemeyer High School All-Star Football Game Wednesday in San Jose. | | |
| | Photo by: Lora Schraft, Staff Photographer | | |
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| | Gilroy's Danny Contreras shares a word with Archbishop Mitty's Zach Guild after hurdling a defender and being hit hard by Guild. | | |
| | Photo by: Lora Schraft, Staff Photographer | | |
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| | Gilroy's Ethan Ogle, right, lunges to tackle Archbishop Mitty's Kenny Jackson during the third quarter of the game. | | |
| | Photo by: Lora Schraft, Staff Photographer | | |
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| | Gilroy's Travis Reyes helps out in blocking duties for the South squad. | | |
| | Photo by: Lora Schraft, Staff Photographer | | |
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| | Gilroy's Gerry Rodriguez (58) pulls wide on a run to the left side during the third quarter of Wednesday's game. | | |
| | Photo by: Lora Schraft, Staff Photographer | | |
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With his team trailing the North by two scores, Danny Contreras decided to sound the alarm and wake up a crowd that was starting to dwindle as the summer evening sunlight had already exited Spartan Stadium.Catching a short pass over the middle as he headed east, Contreras zipped up the sideline before hurdling a defender.
A chatter in the crowd developed into a roar as fans saw Contreras - completely exposed as he glided over the pads of a soldier from the North, ill-equipped to tackle one so nimble - pay the price by being leveled by Zach Guild of Archbishop Mitty. After being stalled for the better part of three quarters of penalties and uninventive play-calling, Contreras had finally put his stamp on the game. He popped up off the ground as quick as he had avoided the first defender, jumped into Guild's face and said with a smile, "Good hit."
"Gotta go big or go home," Contreras said of the give-me-your-best-shot move following the game.
In the end, though, the South's attempts to rally would fall short, 21-19, in the 34th Annual Charlie Wedemeyer All-Star Football Game, which included Contreras (five catches, 62 yards) and three other Gilroy High graduates - Ethan Ogle, Travis Reyes and Gerry Rodriguez.
While the former Mustangs finished on the wrong side of the ledger again after losing to Oak Grove in the Central Coast Section Championship, none were seen hanging their heads this time, as the game was a celebration of football and freedom from the dog days of summer. Teenagers talked on cell phones, parents donned sweatshirts heavy on school colors and if there was a former league champion in the house, it was exactly the time to break out a commemorative T-shirt, clearly stating the year of triumph.
All four graduates of Gilroy High taking part in the game showed a sense of passion that was a trademark of their play over the course of four years, none more successful than the last.
Reyes continued to line up at receiver after badly injuring his shoulder in the first series of downs, Ogle stuck his nose in any scrum that was in short supply of shoulders, fists and cleats, and Rodriguez valiantly opened up lanes to run through on a leg he tore up in the season's final contest.
"I wanted to finish it out because I didn't get to finish my last game," Rodriguez said.
It wasn't a win, but it was a fine way to finish.
Josh Koehn
Josh Koehn is the sports editor for the Gilroy Dispatch. He can be reached at (408) 842-1694 or at jkoehn@svnewspapers.com.
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