The 23rd annual Lezzer Lumber Football Classic was played at Hollidaysburg Golden Tiger Stadium on Friday evening. Five Tyrone athletes and four from Bellwood-Antis played their final high school game. In all there were 80 young men from 80 high schools in an 11-county area. Many of the football players saw each other every week on the other side of the football. Now for a week of practice and the Classic itself, many of these opponents are teammates.
“It has just been great, playing with guys who are our rivals, to be on the same team and to show what our division can do,” said Tyrone’s Tyler Golden, who shared quarterback duties for the South Team with Tyler Mansberger of Southern Huntingdon.
The South won a 35-21 battle, scoring a pair of touchdowns within 15 seconds early in the third quarter to take a two-TD advantage and put the pressure on a North team that for the rest of the game matched the South score-for-score.
“It was a lot of fun,” said Blue Devil Tyler Narehood. “That’s something I always wanted to do-get selected and play on an All-Star team with everybody we play against and meet some of the guys we don’t know.” Playing on the defensive line, Narehood had one of two consecutive tackles for loss during the first half.
The South offense seemed to have their most success on the ground running to the left behind Tyrone teammates Tyler Hoover and James Updike, with Bellwood-Antis guard Chad Coho on the right side.
“It was fun,” said Coho. “It’s something I always wanted to do, play on an All-Star team with everybody
“This game means all the world to me,” explained Updike. “To have a second chance, to play football again, to come back again and play high school football one more time.
Hoover was injured in the second half and didn’t play in the fourth quarter, but seemed to just have tweaked an ankle after the game. “This week gave us a chance to play with our teammates that we played with in high school, and to play with guys from our rivalry teams,” said Hoover, “to get to know guys from Huntingdon, Bellwood-Antis, BG, Indian Valley. We were enemies, now we are teammates.”
“It means a lot, it was an honor to be selected,” said Bellwood-Antis tailback Josh Kleinfelter, who carries six times for 35 yards in limited action. “There are a lot of great athletes here. It was a good game, and honor to be involved in it. The competition here was better, it will help to get ready for college football in the fall.”
Mansberger’s first pass was intercepted and returned for a touchdown by Curwensville’s Shawn Sopic, but he got that one back on the next series, spotting Central’s Cody Stiffey behind the North defense for a 49-yard TD pass.
Although most of the big plays came through the air in the first half, each team scored one TD on the ground to go into the locker rooms at halftime tied 14-14.
First Nick Sipes of Curwensville scored for the North on a five-yard run that capped a 95-yard drive, then the South came back with Tyrone tailback Tyler Gillmen tacking on a six-yard TD run that ended a 77-yard march.
“It’s a great honor, playing with a bunch of guys you play against during the season, coming together as a team,” said Blue Devil Devon Clapper, who played wide receiver and kick returner. Clapper caught one pass for 28 yards and a first down to keep the series going on which Gillmen would score, and seemed to have at least one foot in bounds on what would have been another big gain, that was ruled incomplete by the officials.
The South received the kick to begin the second half, with Mansberger connecting again, this time with Hollidaysburg Golden Tiger Jared Wilson for a 16-yard score to open a seven-point lead. Then the big play of the half occurred on the ensuing kickoff. Sopic tried to break through a pack of offensive and defensive players , fumbled right into the hands of the South’s Jacob Librizzi from Bishop Guilfoyle. Librizzi got past the first line and raced 36 yards with the fumble recovery for the TD and added the PAT kick for a 28-14 lead that had the north team forced to attempt a two score comeback, which the South defense would not allow.
“This competition is much better, to help get us ready for Lock Haven,” said Tyrone wide out Justin Schopp.
The North scored near the end of the third quarter, with Sipes scoring again, from four yards out.
The South took the ball and used over six minutes of clocktime to put the final tally on the scoreboard. Altoona’s Reggie Mencer burst the final seven yards and Librizzi booted his fifth perfect extra point.
