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Southern (Ohio) speed?
By Smith
| 4/24/10 |
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Photo via the-Ozone.net
On a
night of firsts, the team representing the lower half of
the state in the 65th annual Ohio North-South
All-Star Classic eked out a 23 – 20 victory by sticking
to some tried and true football axioms.
The geneses introduced for this years’ game
included moving it from a summer date to the spring,
playing it on a Friday night, and scheduling it the
night before the annual Ohio State spring game.
All of which (in this writers opinion) should
become embedded into the traditions of this the nations
longest running high-school football all star game.
Not the least of which is playing the game on a
Friday night.
I mean, isn’t that a federal law for all high
school football games by now?
The
clichés and truisms that served the South team well
included ‘you win in the trenches’ and ‘speed kills’.
It just so happens that a great deal of their
success came from combining these sayings and using
their speed in the trenches to come out with a win.
This is evidenced by looking at the box score to
find
-
a
lineman as the team MVP on defense (Jibreel Black /
Cincinnati Wyoming / Michigan)
-
a
lineman with a blocked extra point and a fumble
return for a touchdown (Roosevelt Nix / Reynoldsburg
/ Kent State).
In
addition, by my unofficial count, Black and Nix combined
for around 492 sacks and 3.5 million quarterback
pressures.
Ok, that’s exaggerating a bit but the box score didn’t
include defensive stats and that’s what it seemed like.
On a side note, you never realize just how much
an 8 and a 5 can look like each other until they’re
viewed from the hubble-esque heights of the Ohio State
press box.
With Black (6’2”, 260 pounds) wearing number 58 playing
along side Nix (6’1”, 250 pounds) wearing number 55, and
both of them spending the majority of the evening in the
backfield for the north, I was tempted to attribute
their joint success to Jibroosevelt Blix,
To make
matters worse for the north squad, their opponents from
the south also had a weapon at quarterback with the
speed to torch their defenders for a decisive 37 yard
touchdown run in the 3rd quarter.
That weapon is Marion Franklin and future Ohio
State quarterback, Verlon Reed.
That is unless the wide receiver or defensive
back coaches at OSU smuggle him out from under Tressel’s
nose.
Make no mistake, Reed showed enough athleticism,
toughness, & speed during that jaunt for six to make
position coaches ready to rumble for the chance to get
him in their group.
It started with a called quarterback draw to the
right and ended with several northerners grabbing at air
near the line of scrimmage as well as a bowled over
defender at around the 12 yard line.
It was a thrilling run that ended up putting the
south lead just out of the north’s grasp as well as
putting the games MVP trophy within Reeds.
The
north did make things interesting however with twin 56
yard touchdown catches from Wisconsin bound WR Chase
Hammond (Youngstown Boardman).
Both of which were perfectly placed passes from
Jerrod Ronyak (Mentor Lake Catholic) and cleanly caught
by Hammonds without letting the ball get into his chest.
Since the first of the two seemed almost
effortless, they decided to ratchet up the difficulty on
the second one by going up and over Avery Cunningham, a
very physical cornerback out of Winton Woods heading to
Central Michigan.
Thanks to his half a foot height and 20 pound
weight advantages, Hammonds was able to not only snag
the ball seemingly off of Cunningham’s helmet but shrug
him off like a Belted Galloway cow would a 90 pound
trainer.
Unfortunately the PATs after each were failed and
blocked by Nix (respectively).
With
time winding down, the north also came up with a
defensive score in the form of a 45 yard interception
return for a touchdown by LB Antonio Kinard (Youngstown
Liberty / Michigan).
Now within five points at 23 -18, north Coach Tom
Lombardo (Medina Highland) went to the front of the
playbook and called the easiest 2 point conversion pass
play there is.
Fade left, throw it high with a bit of wobble,
and let 6’7” wide receiver Tyrone Williams (East
Cleveland Shaw / Ohio State) go get it.
Williams looked so overpowering on this as well
as his two other catches that many were left wondering
why his number wasn’t called more.
There
were some more breathless moments as the north team
recovered a beautifully executed onside kick.
However, the south defense stepped up once again
to force the north offense back to the sidelines.
Taking over with just under two minutes left in
the game, Coach Mark Crabtree (Dublin Coffman) gave the
south offense the task of salting away the win.
With some tough running by Nathan Carpenter
(Lancaster / Ohio U.) and will imposing blocks from the
south offensive line, they did just that.
The clock wound down to triple zeros and another
Ohio North-South All Star game had earned the moniker
“Classic”.
MAC Attack
Beyond
the fantastic performance by Roosevelt Nix already
detailed, the impression you may have after reading the
above may be that big school recruits dominated the
game. The
truth is there were many more performances worthy of
note by several kids going to MAC and even FCS (Football
Championship Series) schools.
Here are a few notes on some of the standouts
that haven’t been listed already as well as the plays
and stats I counted for them.
PK Kyle
Clinton (Dublin Coffman / Ohio U):
except for the one blocked PAT due to a protection
breakdown, Clinton was perfect on his kicks (2 – 3 PAT,
1 – 1 FG – 27 yds.)
DE
Mark Fackler (Kenton / Kent State): had 4 tackles, one sack, and the forced fumble that
led to Nix’ TD return.
CB
Jerry Gates (Middletown / Bowling Green):
2 tackles, 2 pass break ups, 1 interception.
WR Jack
Tomlinson (Westerville South / Ball State):
2 receptions for 63 yards.
P John
Lloyd (Cincinnati Hills / Cincinnati):
I know Cincy is not a MAC school, but Lloyd impressed me
nonetheless.
I only remember one punt during the game but it was from
his own 10, out to the opponents 45 – so it was 45 yards
in the air.
At half time he was drilling kicks from the 50 and
landing them outside the south end zone.
LB Zac
Rosenbauer (Lima Shawnee / Toledo):
5 tackles, 2 for loss, and 2 QB pressures.
Quotables
Tyrone
Williams on his performance in the game:
“I think I could’ve done better.
There were times when I should’ve helped my
quarterback more and come towards the ball.
But I did Ok.
I tried my best but they were the better team
tonight so you have to give it to them.”
Tyrone Williams on his goals for his first year:
“Get
my grades up starting as a freshman and keep them up.”
JT
Moore on trash talking and playing against future
teammates:
“No. No trash talking.
It was good.
We wished each other luck before the game.
We made a bond over the last couple of days.”
JT
Moore on his goals for his
first year:
“Just to bust my butt and see what can happen.
Be ready for the competition next year.
Wherever they want to put me is fine but I’m not
too sure.
They said Leo originally but I’m not too sure now.
I’ve put on some weight.
I’m about 245
right now.”
Darryl
Baldwin on his performance in the game:
“I
don’t know.
I’m coming off of an ankle injury so it was a little
shaky but I thought I did alright.
I could’ve done more but it’s alright.
It should be fine by camp.”
Darryl
Baldwin on his current measurables and what position he
sees himself at:
"I’m
6’6/265 so I’ve bulked up a little bit.
I’m not sure on a position yet.
I’ve been flip flopping a lot."
Christian Bryant on his performance in the game:
“I
could’ve played better. I mean, I did all right but I
just need to get home and put in some more work before I
report.”
Christian Bryant on his
preparation and goals for his first year:
“I’m
real excited for it.
I’m working hard.
Harder than ever so that hopefully I can compete
as soon as I step on campus.
If I put in the work, it’ll come.”
Christian Bryant on the entire
experience of participating in the game:
“It was
a great experience.
I think it only helps to get me ready for next
year. It was
great competition out here and I just give credit to
everyone out here.
Everybody did a great job throughout the week.”
Verlon
Reed on his performance in the game:
“I
didn’t play as great as I would have liked to, but it’s
an all star game.
Everybody’s going to rotate in so you don’t have
that team chemistry that you want.
But on a couple of plays you’re going to connect
so you have to make the most of your opportunities.”
Verlon
Reed on what he wished he could have done better:
“Passing the ball.
I could have hit on a couple of plays that I
should have.
But you have to have a short memory.”
Verlon
Reed on if he had pre-game jitters:
“Not as
much as I thought it would be.
But that first drive, I was a little bit jittery.
I was like, I have to get a feel for the game but
after that I was comfortable.”
Verlon
Reed on his touchdown run:
“It was
a big play.
I didn't expect to get the MVP from that but whatever
comes, comes my way. Everyone deserves what they get.”
Verlon
Reed on the chemistry with his receivers:
“Chemistry had a lot to do with it because I’m used to
my players at my school, they’re used to their
quarterback.
We only got like 5 practices.
So you’re not going to get that kind of team
chemistry that you expect.”
Verlon
Reed on what it’s like competing with his future
teammates:
“It was
great with everybody competing.
When we’re inside the lines, it’s competitive.
But before and after the game, everybody’s a big
family.”
Verlon
Reed on if he’s concerned his long TD run will cause a
position switch:
“I’m not worried.
It’s just making plays and having fun. If I get
switched, then it happens.
If I get to stay, then that’s what I want but you
just do what the team needs first and then you’ll be
able to contribute to the team.”
Verlon
Reed on representing Columbus and the City League:
“It’s a
lot of pressure, there’s pressure even if I wasn’t
coming from the city.
Coming to one of the top programs in the country,
there’s going to be a lot of pressure.
But you’ve got to make sure you do what you’ve
got to do on and off the field, behind the scenes.
Do the right stuff when nobody sees you, and then
you’ll be fine.
There’s a lot of stuff that doesn’t get put out
there when you’re doing the right things.
But don’t worry about that.
Just keep doing the right thing and then when the
time comes, everybody will take notice to it.”
Verlon
Reed on the feeling he had scoring his first TD in the
‘Shoe:
“It was
a great feeling.
I couldn’t ask for more.”
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