SCHUYLKILL HAVEN — With no shortage of explosive playmakers lining up in the offensive backfield with him, Mason Ryan was a bit surprised to receive the Terry Case MVP award after the Schuylkill County Football Coaches Association North-South All-Star Game.
He was certainly pleased with the honor.
“I was very … I mean, I didn’t expect to get it,” Ryan, a senior quarterback at Mahanoy Area said. “We do have a lot of very good athletes on our team, but it’s exciting.”
Those good athletes turned in a dominant performance on both sides of the ball as Team Jungle (North) overwhelmed Team Ortho (South) 35-14 in the annual clash Wednesday night at Rotary Field.
The North compiled 284 yards rushing and 366 yards of offense while limiting the South to just 170 total yards.
The North forced three three-and-outs, Tegan Durishin of
Lehighton intercepted two passes to end drives, CJ Steinhilber of North Schuylkill recovered a fumble, and twice the South turned the ball over on downs.
Offensively, Ryan and Tyler Cann of Lehighton directed the offense for the North. Lehighton’s Wyatt Clements led the way with led all rushers with 83 yards on eight carries, but it was Kevin Vitti who put the North on the board first with a 1-yard plunge to cap a seven-play, 62-yard drive to start the game.
The South answered with a quick scoring drive after Tyler Whitaker recovered a fumble at the 47. Three plays later, Nick Rodichok of Williams Valley hit Pottsville’s Jeremy Witman in stride behind the secondary for a 40-yard touchdown pass and a tie score.
Clements put the North back on top to stay when he plunged in from the 1, and Lenny Dulsky of Mahanoy Area made it a two-score edge on North’s next possession with a 51-yard jaunt through the middle of the South defense.
Ryan noted the excitement of playing with the top players in the area.
“Especially with Wyatt, it’s nice to just give him the ball and let him run,” Ryan said. “(Jim Thorpe’s Rob) Heller, he’s the same way. He’s just so quick. It’s nice to get out and play with top athletes.”
South MVP Jon Ege, an offensive and defensive lineman from Blue Mountain, also had a memorable experience.
At one point, the 6-foot-4, 280-pound Ege ended up playing outside linebacker on back-to-back series.
“It’s great to get out there in a game like this, not only play my primary position on the line, but also get out there and play some outside linebacker,” Ege said. “I never played there in my life and to get out there the last game of my senior year, it’s just great to do something like that.
“… We were short a guy, and they were like ‘Ege, hop on in.’ So I hopped in, ended up loving it and they put me in next series, too.”
Leading 21-7, Cann capped the North’s first possession of the second half with a 2-yard TD pass to teammate Erik Skrincosky to make it 28-7.
The South answered with its only sustained drive of the evening as Schuylkill Haven’s Nick Kerschner (3-34) and Blue Mountain’s Lucas Forbes (8-46) rotated carries for much of the seven-play, 65-yard march. Forbes finished the drive with an 8-yard TD run.
“It’s great. High school football — it doesn’t get any better than that,” Ege said. “To get out here and play with some close friends, and then make some other friends on other teams as well, it’s great to be able to do.”
Ryan put the icing on the North’s win on the next possession — a nine-play, 80-yard surge that he finished with a 23-yard touchdown scamper to set the final.
“It’s a good way to go out,” Ryan said. “It’ll live with me for the rest of my life. It’s something to remember.”
In addition to the game, at halftime the SCFCA inducted its sixth Hall of Fame class, adding Bob Moyer of North Schuylkill, Tom Renninger of Pine Grove, Jim Shields of Blue Mountain and at-large inductee Walter Farquhar.
The midget football championship teams from the area were also recognized on the field at halftime.
Jim Thorpe coach Mark Rosenberger, who played at Pottsville in the late 1990s, served as honorary captain for the South, and Tri-Valley coach Mike Ulicny, who starred at Shenandoah Valley in the late 1970s, was the honorary captain for the North.
Game Summary
SCFCA North-South All-Star Game
At Rotary Field, Schuylkill Haven
North 7 14 7 7 — 35
South 7 0 7 0 — 14
N — Vitti 1 run (Bradley kick)
S — Witman 40 pass from Rodichok (Puzzi kick)
N — Clements 1 run (Bradley kick)
N — Dulsky 51 run (Bradley kick)
N — Skrincosky 2 pass from Cann (Bradley kick)
S — Forbes 8 run (Puzzi kick)
N — Ryan 23 run (Smith kick)
N S
First Downs 12 7
Rushes-Yards 40-284 16-80
Passes 6-14-2 5-20-2
Passing Yards 82 90
Total Yards 366 170
Fumbles-Lost 2-2 2-1
Penalties 1-5 0-0
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
RUSHING: North — Clements 8-83, Dulsky 6-65, Moyer 10-47, Vitti 6-38, Ryan 4-37, McElmoyle 1-19, Heller 3-7, Florio 1-0, Oliphant 1-(-12). South — Forbes 8-46, Kerschner 3-34, Schaeffer 1-1, Donovan 1-0, Renninger 1-0, Rodichok 2-(-1).
PASSING: North — Cann 4-9-0, 73, Ryan 2-4-2, 9, Yedsena 0-1-0, 0. South — Rodichok 5-19-2, 90, Buchanan 0-1-0, 0.
RECEIVING: North — Geisinger 2-41, McElmoyle 2-34, Wronski 1-5, Skincosky 1-2. South — Witman 1-40, Buchanan 1-38, McBreen 2-8, Renninger 1-4.
INTERCEPTIONS: North — Durishin 2. South — Lucas, Buchanan.