By FRANK CASH

Herald-Whig Sports Writer

Joe Gilliam had plenty of experience in quarterbacking the spread offense from his days at Paris High School.

"I was used to the spread but I didn't have that many receivers to throw to in high school," Gilliam said.

That wasn't an issue in Saturday night's KHQA Do or Die Bowl IV. Gilliam threw passes to six different receivers, including three from Iowa Class 3A state champion Keokuk. That was a major difference in the West All-Stars' 20-12 victory at Flinn Stadium.

The game was halted due to lightning with 2 minutes, 13 seconds left in the game and the West driving on the East's 15-yard line. A second registration of lightning a few minutes later ended the game.

Gilliam completed 17 of 28 passes for 298 yards and three touchdowns. The spread, installed by Clark County coach Matt Smith, was difficult for the East to defend.

"It's very hard to defend especially after only a week of practice," said Macomb's Kelly Sears, the East head coach. "We couldn't get everywhere to cover everything. It was tough."

It took a quarter for the West to warm up but a scoreless tie was snapped when Gilliam hooked up with Keokuk's James Hurt for a 15-yard touchdown pass on the second play of the second quarter.

Hurt was used to being on the receiving end of long passes from Iowa recruit and high school teammate James Vandenberg, who wasn't allowed by his future coaches to play in the game.

"(Gilliam) was fine. He did a great job," said Hurt, a Truman State recruit who also caught a 47-yard pass in the third quarter for a 14-0 lead. "It was rough the first couple of days but we got a lot of practice in. We had our timing down by tonight."

While the West offense set the tempo of the game, the defense lived up to its end of the bargain. The East was stopped on fourth down three times, twice in the red zone.

"The defense was tremendous tonight," said Smith, the West head coach. "We went in at halftime and told the players 'If you can hold them to a goose egg in this game, that would be a great statement.' They scored a couple of times in the second half but we couldn't ask them to play any better."

The East got on the scoreboard late in the third quarter when Jacksonville Routt's Joe Zeller hooked up with Virginia/A-C Central's Brock Thompson for a 26-yard scoring strike. Four minutes later, the East defense made a statement by stopping the West on fourth down at the East 1-yard line.

On the second play of East's next drive, Quincy High School's Lamor Hickman took a handoff, went behind the left tackle and sprinted down the sideline for a 99-yard touchdown to cut the lead to 14-12.

"The line got the job done on that play," Hickman said. "They made a huge hole. At halftime, we re-established our line and we just tried to keep our cool."

Smith emphasized the importance of working hard this week, regularly putting his team through four-hour practices.

"We told the guys we could do this one of two ways," Smith said. "We told them they could have fun this week. We also told them they could work their butts off for five days and enjoy winning this game for the rest of their lives.

"There weren't any guarantees it would work but they bought into it and it paid off."

--sports@whig.com/221-3365