East-West Shrine Game 2016 results: Vernon Adams shines in 29-9 win for West team

Vernon Adams stole the show in Saturday’s East-West Shrine Game. Despite playing in just the first half, the former Oregon quarterback threw for three touchdowns and 191 yards on just nine passing attempts, helping the West team get the 29-9 win.

It was a rough day for Brandon Doughty, the Western Kentucky quarterback who drew plenty of interest coming into the game. He completed six of 11 passes for 42 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions in the opening quarter for the West.

Both of those interceptions led to points for the East side. The first interception, picked off by Anthony Harrell, set East up on the edge of West’s red zone. John Lunsford ended up booting a 33-yard field goal to give them the first points of the game.

After a couple punts, Doughty was intercepted by Brian Poole, who took the pass 98 yards for a touchdown, giving East a 9-0 lead. The West managed to close the gap when Adams came in at quarterback, as he led the team on a seven-play, 80 yard drive that was capped off by an 11-yard touchdown pass to Kivon Cartwright to make it 9-7 in favor of the East.

They didn’t trail much longer than that though, as Adams stayed in the game and delivered another touchdown. Adams was confident in the pocket long enough for coverage to break down and he found Danny Anthrop for a 93-yard touchdown pass. It’s an East-West Shrine Game record, breaking the old one of 80 yards. East safety Jordan Simmons made a mistake in coverage and didn’t stay back in his zone, letting Anthrop by for the score.

The West team got the ball back and Adams slowly drove them past midfield, keeping the drive alive with a nifty 6-yard run on third-and-6. On the next play, he hit Storm Barrs-Woods for a 45-yard catch-and-run. Barrs-Woods showed good burst and vision on the swing pass, following his blockers all the way. Adams threw his third touchdown pass on the game, hitting Illinois’ Geronimo Allison with a bullet pass that had pinpoint accuracy.

West ran a two-minute drill at the end of the second quarter, with Wisconsin’s Joel Stave replacing Adams under center. He got his team down to the 25-yard line but threw an ugly interception to his college teammate Mike Caputo, who nearly had a pick-six for East before getting dragged down from behind at the 11-yard line. East tacked on a field goal and went into halftime down, 23-9.

Things didn’t start much better for the East team in the second half, with Blake Frohnapfel throwing his team’s second interception of the day. For once, West couldn’t take advantage of the turnover, punting the ball back to East. The West team added to its lead late in the third quarter when Indiana’s Nate Sudfeld hooked up with Allison for his second touchdown of the game. That would end up sealing the win for the West team.

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