SAN ANTONIO -- Chad Voytik said after the All-American Bowl that he learned some good life lessons off the field during the week of practice leading up to the game. His performance Saturday on the field was pretty good, too.
The East team quarterback from Cleveland High School scored the final touchdown, a 9-yard run in the game's final minutes, but the West team won 24-12. Voytik's scoring run capped a nine-play, 59-yard drive.
He finished 7-for-13 for 60 passing yards and gained 12 yards on three carries.
"This was a great experience," he said. "I learned today that I can pick up a system pretty fast. We studied our butts off all week, and I felt I was able to get the guys in the right places.
"I feel I can step in and use my mind to give me an edge."
That played a large role in his touchdown run.
"It was supposed to be a pass play," he said. "One of my receivers was running a slant route on the back side, but I was reading the linebacker and saw he was dropping, so I improvised and treated it like a draw."
Nationally, the big news out of the All-American Bowl was Barry J. Sanders' late-game announcement that he planned to sign with Stanford and not his namesake father's alma mater, Oklahoma State, which edged Stanford in the Fiesta Bowl at the first of the week.
Sanders had only three carries in the West's victory, but those included a 10-yard touchdown run late in the first quarter.
His father, the 1988 Heisman Trophy winner at Oklahoma State, stood near his son and other family members when Barry J. announced his decision to go to Stanford on national television in the fourth quarter of the game.
"I think everyone understood my position," said the son, wearing a black hat with the block Cardinal "S" on the front. "That program [OSU] made my family, and I thank them for it. I'll always have orange in my blood."
He put Stanford on the top of his list weeks back, but he couldn't commit until he met the school's eligibility standards. Sanders said he was told Friday that he would be admitted after taking the college entrance exams more than once.
"I believe I'll be playing with the greatest student-athletes in the world," he said.
The 5-foot-11, 190-pound Sanders rushed for 1,324 yards (9.5 yards per carry) and 27 touchdowns this season at Oklahoma City Heritage Hall. The team won two state championships while he was there.
Sanders' finalists also included Florida State and Alabama.
The other touchdowns from the West came from quarterback Cyler Miles, who starred this year at Mullen High School in Denver and has committed to Washington. Miles was 7-of-8 (the incompletion was a drop), including a game-record 79-yard TD pass to Dorial Green-Beckham, and had the game's first score with a 4-yard run.