Zach Helbing sacks East QB for a game winning safety, earns MVP Honors.

MHS - Football / July 30, 2017 By Kasey McDowell


Former Mulvane standout Zach Helbing (2017) represented the Wildcats in the 2017 KS Shrine Bowl on July 29 and came home with a victory as well as the MVP trophy. Zach ended the game with 5 tackles, 3 assists, 1 INT, 1 FR, and 1 game winning safety. Representing Goddard-Eisenhower and coaching the West squad was former Mulvane Wildcat Marc Marinelli (1999).

The West led 14-0 late in the first half and did not lose the lead until midway through the third quarter. East came up with a late turnover, but a penalty pinned the squad inside its own 5-yard line with 1:53 remaining. Down by one point, under two minutes left, and no timeouts remaining to stop the clock. On the next play from scrimmage, the West appeared to have the go-ahead points on a safety. Instead, officials ruled Frontenac's Brandon Mlekus made it past the goal line.

On the very next play, Zach Helbing and Goddard-Eisenhower's Tanner Orand wrapped up a scrambling Mlekus in the corner of the end zone. This time there was no denying the safety and the go-ahead 2-points. The play sealed a MVP-performance from Helbing, who also intercepted a pass in the first quarter and registered eight tackles in front of his soon-to-be coaches at Butler.

“You can’t even really imagine winning a game like that, let alone actually doing it out there,” Helbing said. “That was an amazing one, for sure.”

"We went zero blitz so we were going to make something happen," said West Coach Marc Marinelli from Goddard-Eisenhower. "They were either going to bust a big one or we were going to get them. We were going to force something to happen. We went zero coverage and we brought everybody.

"They played until the end of the game. I couldn't be prouder as a coach. No matter what the outcome, I was going to be proud of them. To end on that note, that's pretty special."


  1 2 3 4 Final
West 14 0 6 2 22
East 0 7 14 0 21


Click here for full game stats

2017 KS Shrine Bowl Highlights on YouTube



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