The OVAC All Star games ends in a 13-13 tie for the first time

 

Yesterday I made the almost two-hour drive to Wheeling, West Virginia, to take in the 78th Ohio Valley Athletic Conference Annual Rudy Mumley All-Star Game, which pits Ohio vs. West Virginia. The game always seems more like a playoff game than an All-Star game, which at times can get a little chippie.

Ohio would score with 9:20 left in the opening quarter when Kabel Islay (River) found a wide-open Cole Thoburn (St. Clairsville) for a 34-yard touchdown. Jacob Meager just made his kick to put Ohio up 7-0. Thoburn would have made Randy Moss happy with his route running and sweet little move to lose the player attempting to guard him.

With 6:00 left, the clock Jason Castello (Barnesville) picked off a pass thrown by Luke Hudson (University). The West Virginia defense used a nice play from Corey Lyons (Weir), who stopped Sabron Felton (Steubenville) after a catch for a 4-yard loss to quickly end the Ohio drive.

Lyons would use some nice work from the big boys up front to pick up 22 yards. Hudson would connect with Triston Walker (Parkersburg South) for 28 yards. The drive came to a close with a Gavin Moore (Brooke) 2-yard run and a point-after kick by Conor Fitzpatrick (John Marshall) with 3:48 left in the quarter.

Ohio would end the quarter with two nice plays, one on offense and the other on defense. Islay would use his feet to pick up 17 yards and then a tackle for loss by Brady Hastings (Buckeye Trail) on Atley Cowan (Linsly).

Ohio would get a 16-yard completion from Islay to Mac Pettigrew (Bellaire) and a 19-yard run from Islay, but the drive would end just when it looked like Ohio was going to grab the lead, when Taison Starr (Barnsville) muffed the direct snap and Keon Stephens (Wheeling Park) scooped it up. The rest of the half would go by without any scoring.

Starr would get to Dimaarlo White (John Marshall) for a short loss after White made a nice catch with 11:00 left in the third quarter. Maddox Bowers (Morgantown) would be sacked by Graham Baker (Fort Frye), who was helping to force a West Virginia punt.

Ohio got a 26-yard pass from Isaly to Felton to quickly get things going with 7:15 showing on the third quarter clock. Call it a bad snack or a muff, either way, Islay mishandled the ball with Walker scooping it up and taking it 65 yards to put West Virginia up 13-7, as the point after the kick was blocked with 4:11 left in the third. With Uncle Mo. on the home team side, Fitzpatrick was able to get a beautiful onside kick off, and he recovered it to get the ball right back for his offense, with 4:07 showing on the clock.

With a little under ten minutes left in the game, JJ Barton (Dover) blasted off for a 28-yard pick-up to get Ohio underway. Islay was sacked by Moore and Noah Loy (Wheeling Central). With 8:28 left in the game, the Brook trio of Moore, Bachinski, and Tyler Wise teamed up to take Barton down for a loss of six yards.

With 7:19 left in the game, Pettigrew was able to recover a put that was mishandled by the West Virginia returner. Ohio would need four plays to lock this one up, with Islay hooking up with Pettigrew for the score. What would have been the game-winning point after the kick came up short with 5:32 left in the game?

Even with no scoring in the final 5:32 of the game, things got exciting. JR Adams (St. Clairsville) pounced on a Cowan fumble to get the ball back for Ohio. A sack by Wise for 7 yards on Islay helped get the ball back for West Virginia. Then, with one second left, Koen Eagon (Buckeye Trail) picked off a Cowan pass to give Ohio one final play to get the win, but a pass found the turf, and for the first time in the game's history, the game ended in a tie.

Running: Ohio 35-171 (Faulks 15-69, Barton 6-39, Isaly 7-33, Starr 3-14, Falton 2-11, Sewell 1-5, White 1-0). W.Va. 21-106-td (Lyons 6-63, Cowan 8-45, Moore 5-10-td, Stromile 1-(-2), Bowers 1-(-10)

PASSING: Ohio 11-16-133-2tds (all by Isaly). W.Va. 11-19-105-2ints (Cowan 7-11-74-int, Hudson 2-4-33-int, Stromile 0-1, Bowers 2-4-(-2)

Receiving: Ohio 11-133-2tds (Pettigrew 4-45-td, Sewell 3-1, Thoburn 1-34-td, Felton 1-23, Barton 1-5, Hutton 1-5). W.Va. 11-109 (Walker 2-46, White 2-13, Stromile 2-12, Bachinski 1-11, Lyons 1-9, Stephens 1-8, Prospero 1-5, Moore 1-1)

FIRST DOWNS: Ohio 15. W.Va. 11

PENALTIES: Ohio 6-65. W.Va. 5-30

FUMBLES: Ohio 2-2. W.Va. 2-2

 West Virginia 53 Unofficial yards in the 2nd half



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Comments

Mike Hastings said…
Great summary of the game, the last 5 mins were nerve wracking. The goal is always to win but with the things that happened I feel a tie was a best case scenario. Both defenses played very well. Whenever you can hold an All Star Offense to only a score or two, that’s a big accomplishment. I would love to see that game replayed after the teams had a month to practice.
July 23, 2024 at 10:09 AM
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