Former Bulldog duo felt right at home in Shrine game

Former Baker players Dekker Smith, No. 46 above, and Trace Richardson, not picutured, had strong outings at Saturday’s East-West Shrine all-star football game. (Baker City Herald/Kathy Orr)

Both former Bulldogs were members of the East squad that lost 14-6 in the 58th annual Shrine game. But both gave the Baker fans something to cheer about.

Smith, who has already enrolled at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, started at linebacker for the East. And in his usual hard-nosed style Smith led the defense to a strong showing.

“It took a few plays in the first half to get back to speed, but after that it felt good,” Smith said.

“It obviously had that hometown feeling. But the Shrine game is a different breed. It’s a lot different than the playoffs or the regular season. But it was fun.”

Smith intercepted a West pass early in the first quarter and returned it deep into West territory. However, as he was tackled the ball slipped away and was recovered by the West.

Smith made sure West quarterbacks Nick Paxton and Jake Moore, and running back Nick Turner had close looks at the stadium turf on numerous occasions.

“We just hit head on, pretty hard,” Smith said.

Smith still has plans to walk on at BYU this fall. But for now, he’s headed back to Provo.

“I’ve got to go home and do some homework,” he said as he walked out of Bulldog Memorial Stadium. “Then it’s up and back on the road in the morning.”

Changing directions

Richardson turned into a Jack-of-all-trades Saturday.

Not only did he start at wide receiver for the East, he also handled the punting, and even threw a pass on an option play.

Richardson caught five passes for 63 yards and a touchdown. He punted four times for an average of 45 yards a kick. Not bad for someone who wasn’t even the Bulldogs’ punter.

Richardson scored the East’s lone touchdown early in the fourth period after some razzle dazzle in the backfield.

On the play quarterback Tyler Harshfield handed off to Derek Barth who handed off to Tristan Metcalf who then lateraled back to Harshfield.

Meanwhile Richardson raced down the right sideline toward the end zone. Harshfield lofted a 32-yard aerial in that direction. Richardson and a West defender went up for the ball and the official threw a flag for defensive pass interference.

Despite being jostled, Richardson came down with the ball in the right front corner of the end zone for the TD.

“The play was called One Willie Mays,” Richardson said.

“It’s a quick double reverse while I ran a lazy post to the corner. The linemen blocked great. That was a key to the play working.”

Richardson also has done a reverse on his college plans.

Originally, he was headed to Western Oregon University in Monmouth. But after Shrine week that has changed.

“Now I’m going to Eastern Oregon to play football,” he said. “I got a scholarship and decided to go there.

“I didn’t really want to quit yet. This is the best sport in the world,” he said, adding that his experiences at Shrine camp helped change his decision.

“This was a pretty good exclamation  point on my high school career, though,” he said.