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Helix’s Traylor an All-Star in all facets

Helix senior Delshawn Traylor during the Alex Spanos Senior All-Star Classic on Saturday. / photo by Ramon Scott

Granite Hills’ Zoseph Cuero (blue helmet) gangs up on a tackle-for-loss on Saturday. / photo by Ramon Scott

2019 EAST COUNTY PREP FOOTBALL

30TH ALEX G. SPANOS SENIOR ALL-STAR CLASSIC

NORTH ALL-STARS 44, SOUTH ALL-STARS 7

 

EastCountySports.com staff report

 

SAN DIEGO – On Saturday night, Helix senior Delshawn Traylor looked like the quarterback he feels like he can be if given the opportunity.

Traylor runs behind Granite Hills’ Zoseph Cuero on Saturday. / photo by Ramon Scott

The Highlanders’ two-way star threw a touchdown pass for his team’s only points during the Alex Spanos Senior All-Star Classic at Douglas Stadium.

The North All-Stars made it look like the old days, drubbing the South All-Stars, 44-7.

With his team trailing 7-0 early in the first quarter, Traylor scrambled on a fourth-and-9 play, got away from the constant pressure that plagued the South team all night, and unleashed a one-legged pass 40 yards in the direction of the goal line for a 33-yard

St. Augustine’s Sam Scaife, a mega-talented receiver that has a highlight reel full of spectacular plays in his varsity career, separated behind his defender and made a backward leap to follow the near-perfectly thrown ball into his gloves for a college-level touchdown.

 

It wasn’t just the pass. Traylor had the team moving on his first series, rushing for several 10 yard-plus gains and three first downs in a standard run-pass option to counter the North’s first scoring drive.

Traylor has insisted all year that he will compete for a quarterback position during his upcoming football career at West Point.

If that doesn’t work out for him, the All-San Diego CIF defensive back will certainly find his way into the Black Knights’ starting lineup one day soon.

Sam Scaife celebrates with El Capitan’s Carson Feil following his touchdown catch in the second quarter. / photo by Ramon Scott

Traylor, who took snaps in the Helix backfield off-and-on for the last three seasons, was lined up at quarterback once again, in a county all-star game, no less.

Traylor was basically slated to be a part-time QB again this season, insisting he would always do what was in the best interest of the team.

Why wasn’t Traylor, who has been told he would be given the opportunity to try out at quarterback for Army, used exclusively for the Highlanders this season?

Things worked out fine for Helix, which won the San Diego CIF Open Division championship this season as the county’s best team.

And Traylor, who threw just 37 passes in his varsity career, is primarily a rusher anyway, gaining more than 1,600 yards in his career (a 7.5-yard average) with 29 rushing touchdowns.

And that’s what a quarterback at Army does, engineer a well-oiled flexbone triple-option.

Traylor really didn’t get much of a chance to lead the team in a significant drive again after taking a pair of desperation scramble sacks near midfield to end the first half.

However, Traylor could be found playing defense for this all-star team, as well. The obvious leader tried to make something happen in the third quarter, throwing an ill-advised pass for an interception under a furious rush.

Ironically, Traylor is credited with just one interception in his entire career, while throwing seven touchdown passes.

Like any all-star game, several players are rotated at their positions but as the game became a blowout, you could hear members of the team saying, “If Delshawn was in there the whole time, we would be in this game.”

Traylor enjoyed himself nonetheless, often seen dancing on the sidelines throughout the game, whenever he wasn’t in the game.

A a 2-yard interception return from a different quarterback with under two minutes left in the second quarter gave the North a 14-7 edge at halftime.

But the South was plagued with problems in its execution in the second half, allowing the North to assume full control of the contest.

The North’s pass rush was significant but it also looked coherent on offense.

It was the third-straight win in the series for the North, which leads the regional series, 14-11. Five of the games had a different format.

Max Susi, of Eastlake, was the South MVP. He had an interception on a great read to blow up a pass in the first quarter.

Steele Canyon’s T-Max Nyumah defended a pass in the end zone in the first quarter for the South.

Monte Vista’s Sebastian Valdez was strong on his pass rush in the second quarter, as the South forced a three-and-out with the score tied, 7-all, midway through the second quarter.

Sam Scaife catches a touchdown pass in the second quarter. / photo by Ramon Scott

While both teams boasted an all-star coaching staff, as well, the North team looked like it had paid attention to their mentors during the week, while the South, while loose before and during the game, made several mistakes similar to a team playing a preseason game.

Meanwhile, Traylor surely couldn’t have liked what he saw during the Army-Navy football game on Saturday afternoon.

Army’s offense, without injured starter Kelvin Hopkins Jr. until the end of the one-sided game, couldn’t do much of anything against Navy in the annual battle in Philadelphia.

Traylor had to think about his future plans in Annapolis during that first series on Saturday night.

Elijah Laing, of Helix, handled the kicking duties for the South, including a point-after kick. All-star holder Connor Chase, also from the Highlanders, was the long snapper.

Other East County players in the contest were Helix’s John Carroll and Anthony Lombardo, Steele Canyon’s Cameron Ewert, Chance Johnson, Antoine Walker, and Ulolo Samoata, Granite Hills’ Zoseph Cuero, and Foothills Christian’s Tony Mroz, who starred for the last two seasons on the San Diego Section eight-man champion Foothills Christian Knights.

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