2011 ALL-STAR GAME FACTS & FIGURES (and ironies)

1.      Game records: no game records were tied or broken in the 2011 All-Star Game

2.      Most Valuable Player Awards:

·       The North Defensive MVP award won by Eric Riley (Morris Area, LB) was the first for a Morris player and the second for a player from the West Central Conference (also Bobby Beck in 1992). It was the seventh MVP award presented to a player who scored a defensive touchdown.

·       The North Offensive MVP award won by CJ Ham (Duluth Central, RB) was the first for a Duluth Central player and the first for a player from a Duluth high school. Ironically, CJ Ham earned an All-Star MVP award in Duluth Central’s final year as a school. Duluth Central’s class of 2011 marks the end of a nearly 120-year history in Duluth.

·       The South Defensive MVP award won by Trevor Lueders (DL) continued a remarkable run of outstanding All-Star Game performances by players from Glencoe-Silver Lake. His was the fourth MVP award for a Glencoe-Silver Lake player and the fourth in five years (2007, 2008, 2010 and 2011).

·       The South Offensive MVP award won by Jameson Parsons was fourth for an Eagan player.

·       The MVP awards for players from Eagan and Glencoe-Silver Lake allowed those schools to tie Apple Valley and Forest Lake for the most MVP awards for players from one school.

3.      Brainerd’s Jordan Hayes (RB) scored for the North on a 3 yard run in the second quarter. Hayes is the first Brainerd player to score in the All-Star Game since 1952, when Jerry Hill also scored on a 3 yard run for the North. That is a span of 59 years and 46 All-Star games, the longest such stretch in All-Star Game history.

4.      Eric Riley (Morris Area, North) scored on a 33 yard interception return in the third quarter. Riley’s touchdown was the 14th defensive touchdown in All-Star Game history and the second in two years. Carlton Littlejohn (Minneapolis North) scored on a 22 yard interception return in 2010. There has been only one other two year period when defensive touchdowns were scored in two consecutive All-Star Games: 2001 (2) and 2002 (1).

5.      The third quarter touchdown pass thrown by Billy Gregg (Hopkins) was of historical significance for Hopkins:

·       Hopkins now has the most players that have thrown touchdown passes in the All-Star Football Game (4)

·       Hopkins tied St. Louis Park for the most touchdown passes thrown by players from one school (5)

6.      Two Twin Cities’ area players scored in this All-Star Game – all by place kick (6 points total, 3 PATs and 1 field goal). The last All-Star Game in which all Twin Cities area players’ points were all by place kick was in 1975 (the last game played at the U of M campus before 2011). In that game, Scott Pederson (St. Louis Park) was the only Metro area player to score (1 PAT for the North).

7.      With the 5 points scored by Steven Kiesel (Breck), private school players have scored in 5 straight All-Star games (2007-2011).

8.      Steven Kiesel is the first private school player to score points by place kick since Tim Rosga (Cretin-Derham Hall) in 1995. He is just the fourth private school player to score by place kick in All-Star Game history.

9.      Cretin-Derham Hall coaches were on the losing side for the first time in All-Star Game history. Cretin-Derham Hall (also Cretin) coaches have made a combined 11 appearances in the All-Star Game with a combined record of 8-2-1.

10.     University of Minnesota location - All-Star Facts:

·       With the win in 2011, the North All-Stars continued a tradition of winning every All-Star game played on the University of Minnesota campus. Five games have been played on the U of M campus and the North has won all five (combined score 124-24).

·       In five All-Star Games played on the U of M campus, the South has never scored more than 7 points in any of those games. In fact, the South has scored exactly 7 points in three of the five games played at the U of M (1945, 1975 and 2011).

·       Irony: in the last game played on the U of M campus (1975) a Big 9 Conference player (Kent Kitzmann, RB Rochester John Marshall) scored the only South touchdown. In 2011, another Big 9 player (Ryan Woodard, WR Winona) scored the only South touchdown.