A new era in Ohio high school football all-star game action will begin this spring as the Ohio North-South Classic will move from mid-June to Fri., April 23.
The North-South Classic is in its 65th consecutive year and is the nation’s longest running high school all-star game. The game moved from Stark County to Columbus in 2001 and has been contested at Ohio Stadium the last couple of years.
But the move from June to April allows the Ohio High School Football Coaches Association to avoid a conflict with the Big 33 Football Classic. The Big 33 pits an Ohio all-star team against a team from Pennsylvania. By moving the Ohio game, the OHSFCA can have Ohio’s best players compete in both all-star games. (This year’s Big 33 game is set for Sat., June 19.)
Plus, the Ohio North-South Classic will be held on the evening before Ohio State’s spring football game. Organizers hope that helps boost attendance at their game on that Friday night.
Olentangy coach Ed Terwilliger, an OHSFCA all-star game committee member, talked about the rationale behind this big change.
“The reality of it was it wasn’t really one particular item that sparked this move,” Terwilliger said. “This has been in the works, really, for about three years. We were up against the Big 33 game and kids enrolling at colleges early because of semesters and the Army game and the Under Armour game.
“Coach Tressel and the Ohio State staff have been good. We have been brainstorming to see what direction is the best way to take this game, which is the oldest in the country, and make it something that every kid in this state wants to play in.
“The Big 33 game is also important because we’re competitive. Our game is more important to us. Now some of these kids can play in this game and that game as well. I’m pretty excited about it. We want these guys to be the beginning of something big. We want people next year to say, ‘What do I have to do to get into that game?’ ”
Terwilliger and members of the coaches association hope the North-South Game will attract football fans who will come into Columbus for the weekend for the OSU spring game. It is also the weekend of the OSU coaching clinic.
“Coach Tressel has to be given a lot of credit for that,” Terwilliger said. “There will be 1,000 coaches from all around the state in town as well. We can’t do it the same day they do. Ideally, it would have been great to do a doubleheader with Ohio State. But we can’t do that because of NCAA guidelines. I think it’s going to be awesome.”
In years past, the coaches association brought the players for the North-South Game to Columbus a week before the game. They practiced and were sequestered in dorms at Otterbein. But, by moving the game to a weekend within the school year, they have to rework the practice schedule and accommodations.
“Everything is new,” Terwilliger said. “The teams got together in February. They’ll get together in March for a Saturday or Sunday practice. We’ll do it again in April before coming into the week. The players will then report on the Wednesday of the game week and we’ll put them up in a hotel. Thursday night will be our banquet and Friday will be the game.”
Ohio State recruits Darryl Baldwin (Solon), J.T. Moore (Boardman), Tyrone Williams (East Cleveland Shaw), Christian Bryant (Cleveland Glenville) and Verlon Reed (Marion-Franklin) will headline a group of 13 future Big Ten players, including five headed for Michigan and three going to Wisconsin.
Other colleges represented in the game include Notre Dame, Pitt, West Virginia and a slew of MAC schools. Five future Cincinnati players will suit up as well.
Dublin Coffman’s Mark Crabtree will coach the South team, while Medina Highland’s Tom Lombardo will coach the North.
“It is pretty neat and I think the closer the game gets here the more I am going to appreciate it and the more the players and the assistant coaches will appreciate it,” Crabtree said. “If you go back and really study this and the history of the guys who have come before us, it’s a pretty impressive list of people.
“The fact we’re playing Ohio Stadium is also neat. We were one of the high school teams that got to play there this past year. When you walk down that tunnel, you get pretty charged up. You’re on that field and in that stadium you’ve seen your whole life. It will click for these guys that it’s a big deal.”
Crabtree talked about the logisitics involved in coaching an all-star game during the school year.
“It’s going to be a little tricky,” he said. “The only thing we know is we will practice on a Wednesday and a Thursday and play the game on a Friday night. Beside that, we’re probably looking at practicing on some Sunday afternoons. That’s all we got. Both teams will be under the same constraint, so we’ll just do the best we can with it.”
Lombardo agreed that it will be hard to build a team in such a piecemeal manner.
“I do believe this is a positive,” Lombardo said. “We want the best players from the North and the South to play in the game. Then, the best from this game go on and play in the Big 33. To couple it with (OSU’s) spring game is exciting. Obviously, that leaves us some challenges with some Sunday practices and just the two days before.
“I think we will make it work. They are good athletes.”
Lombardo said he is excited to be involved with the game.
“Both teams are loaded with the best players in the state,” Lombardo said. “We may be missing one or two guys because of track or something else like that, but for the most part you have great players. I am looking forward to it and I’m excited.”
No time has been set for the game, but the organization is looking at the potential of having the game kick off at 7 p.m. By adding Under Armour as a sponsor, the players will be outfitted in state-of-the-art uniforms and gear. There is hope as well that a television station or network will pick up the game.
“We are a philanthropic organization,” Terwilliger said. “What money we make, we give right back to scholarships. To put a game on TV, you have to pay for production costs. We don’t have that nor the expertise to do it. You have to have a venue great enough where someone comes in and says, ‘We want to do it.’
“Our goal is just to get it on TV.”
The rosters for the game are listed below. Here are video interviews with three of the players selected for the 2010 North-South Game.
Video interview with Solon DE Darryl Baldwin, headed to Ohio State.
Video interview with Youngstown Boardman DE J.T. Moore, headed to Ohio State.
Video interview with Carey OL Michael Dennis, headed to Michigan State.
Here are the rosters:
OHIO NORTH SOUTH CLASSIC
Friday April 23, Time TBD
Ohio Stadium
NORTH ROSTER
Head coach
Tom Lombardo (Medina Highland)
Assistant coaches
Mike Bell (Mentor Lake Catholic)
Tom Gibbons (Euclid)
Mike Kopachy (Salem)
Jim Lunardi (Ravenna)
Rick Rios (Toledo Rogers).
No., Player, Pos., Ht., Wt., High School, College
Latwan Anderson, DB, 5-9, 180, Clev. Glenville, West Virginia
Courtney Avery, DB, 5-10, 170, Lexington, Michigan
Darryl Baldwin, DL, 6-7, 265, Solon, Ohio State
Christian Bryant, DB, 5-10, 185, Clev. Glenville, Ohio State
Isiah Byler, OL, 6-5, 280, Elyria, Bowling Green
Brendan Carrazoni, TE, 6-4, 220, Clev. St. Ignatius, Pittsburg
Andre Cliff, OLB, 5-9, 210, Euclid, Undecided
Michael Dennis, OL, 6-7, 270, Carey, Michigan State
