Last call for standouts in NCOFCA All-Star game

BELLVILLE — Recent area graduates played a role in all three scores for the North team in its 27-20 loss to the South squad in the 39th annual North Central Ohio Football Coaches Association All-Star game on June 13 at Clear Fork High School. The North team, coached by third-year Norwalk head coach Keith Mora, trailed 27-0 with under a minute remaining in the third quarter. But the team, which featured 13 area players, made a big rally with three fourth quarter touchdowns in nine-plus minutes to make it interesting late. "It was a cool opportunity, and I invited most of our staff to be part of it, along with Coach (Matt) Flewelling from Clyde. It was a neat opportunity to talk to kids from the North Central Ohio area and see what they could do. "It's a lot of work and extra stuff, but rewarding at the same time," he added. "It's a game that has been around for a long time, so it was nice to be included in that and see what goes into it." The South team opened the scoring with a big-play strike. After stopping the South team on a fourth-and-short at their own 15, quarterback AJ Bower found Jax Wenger for an 85-yard touchdown pass at the 5:55 mark of the first quarter. Bower and Wenger were teammates at Galion Northmor, which went 14-1 and fell to Kirtland in a Division VI state semifinal last season. On the next South possession, quarterback Chase Ebert (River Valley) connected with Marion Harding's Keonte' Scott for a 39-yard TD pass over the top of two North defenders. The snap was mishandled on the pAT, leaving the South team up 13-0 with 3:12 left in the first quarter. Late in the second quarter, Bower found Hillsdale's Holland Young on a 5-yard TD pass with just 10 seconds left in the first half. The extra point extended the lead to 20-0 at the break. After several trades of possession in the third quarter, the South appeared to remove all doubt when Bower connected with Marion Pleasant's Owen Lowry for a 29-yard TD pass with just 49 seconds left in the third quarter. The extra point extended the lead to 27-0, which is where the score remained in the early minutes of the fourth quarter. The North team finally got on the scoreboard when Mansfield Madison QB Cameron Kuhn found Ohio Cardinal Conference rival Tyler Sauder (Ashland) on a 3-yard TD pass on a short throw toward the right corner of the end zone. Monroeville's Landon Stein, headed to NCAA Division II Ashland University, added the first of three extra points for a 27-7 deficit with 11:52 left in the game. After getting the ball back, Kuhn then connected with Norwalk's Sam Konik across the middle near the back of the end zone for a 4-yard TD pass and catch with 6:27 left in the game. Stein's kick made it a 27-14 deficit. "Obviously nice to see Sam score there," Mora said. "You always want all the local kids to perform well, but as coaches, we were really excited for him." Finally, Kuhn helped lead the South to one more score, as he found Monroeville's Evan Benfer this time on a 6-yard TD pass on fourth-and-goal with 1:13 left in the game. A two-way standout as the Firelands Conference Offensive and Defensive Player of the Year in 2024, Benfer will play receiver at NCAA Div. III Heidelberg this fall. Stein's PAT made it a one-score game at 27-20. However, the South recovered the onside kick attempt and ran out the clock, as the North team was out of timeouts. Benfer was named the Special Teams Player of the Game in the loss. Also playing for Monroeville was receiver AJ Bores, Landin Hershiser and Sam Clinker. For St. Paul, interior linemen Luke Blum, Tristan Nickoli and Adam Roth were in action. Roth and Hershiser will join Benfer at Heidelberg this fall. Willard's Kellen Cooper, along with Plymouth's Noah Robinson and Jackson Dennison, and Western Reserve's Jared Hipp were also on the North roster. Mora said the team was expected to have about 27 or 28 kids on the roster, but injuries and circumstances left them with 23 to start the game. "And a few plays into the game, another kid was banged up," he said. "We had to find the right shuffling of guys, but we got the right combination of kids on the offensive line." Ironically, Mora said it was sliding out St. Paul's Roth to offensive tackle, along with some other position switches. "That ended up kind of being the thing we needed on the offensive side," he said. "But overall, it was a fun time and we were glad to be a part of it."