NORTH-SOUTH ALL-STAR FOOTBALL
CLASSIC, 7 P.M., LAIDLEY FIELD SMASH-MOUTH SHOWDOWN ANNUAL GRIDIRON GAME COULD
BE DECIDED AT LINE OF SCRIMMAGE
Publication: THE
Published: 06/23/2007
Page: 1B
Headline: NORTH-SOUTH ALL-STAR FOOTBALL CLASSIC, 7 P.M., LAIDLEY FIELD
SMASH-MOUTH SHOWDOWN ANNUAL GRIDIRON GAME COULD BE DECIDED AT LINE OF SCRIMMAGE
Byline: MIKE WHITEFORD
North-South All-Star Classic
s Where: Laidley Field
s When: 7 p.m. today
s Tickets: $8 each
mikewhiteford@wvgazette.com
The rule requiring at least 20 passes is no longer in effect, and the South's
offensive line is stocked with 300-pounders.
It therefore seems reasonable that South coach Bob Mullett
will favor a hard-hitting running game in the 54th renewal of the North-South
All-Star Football Classic, which matches the state's best high school seniors
beginning at 7 p.m. today at Laidley Field.
Mullett, the veteran Van coach, admits that a
smash-mouth approach looks tempting.
"I figure a lot of coaches will look [at the line] and say, 'Oh, my God,
he's going to run to this hole, then that hole ...,'" Mullett
said this week, "and they're probably right."
An unusually high number of West Virginia and Marshall recruits will be on
display tonight, but the South's collection of 300-pound offensive linemen -
Chad Snodgrass of Nitro, Micah Carter of Woodrow Wilson, C.J. Huffman of
Hurricane, Justin Crews of Riverside and Keith Taylor of Princeton - should
offer interesting possibilities.
Like most coaches in the uncharted territory of an all-star football game, Mullett said he will experiment and see what works.
"We'll start out in the I-formation, basically," he said, "and
we'll run it up in there. We will try. We'll run downhill, yes sir. But I
guarantee [the North] has got some people who will knock you down, too. It will
be black and blue up front after the game. I'd like to see those nine kids, 10
kids [on the line] after the game. Y'all need to go after the game and check
them out. Those inside hogs will get after each other. And it's gonna be both ways."
In last year's game, in which the coaches banished the 20-pass minimum, coach Scott Tinsley of Nitro used balance in a 33-22
victory, amassing 197 yards passing and 129 rushing. The South completed
14-of-17 passes.
The South's victory ended a two-game losing streak in the series and gave the
southerners a 32-18-3 overall lead.
North coach Bernie Buttrey of
"We're going to try to [pass some], but it's hard to put that together in
a week," said Buttrey. "We have two very
good quarterbacks, and we also have a great receiving corps. We've got some
people that can get it done. We've also got a great big fullback, a couple good
tailbacks, so we're going to run the ball some, too."
As a member of the southern-based Mountain State Athletic Conference, Buttrey already knows many players on the South roster.
"The first thing I told my team is that I know more about their team than
I do our team," he said. "There's some familiarity there. I've seen a
lot of these kids playing in the MSAC. They're very, very talented. There's a
lot of talent over there."
Three WVU scholarship players are expected to play: Nitro's Snodgrass and
quarterback Charlie Russell and tight end-defensive end Junius
Lewis, both of
One
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BRIEFLY: A crowd of about 5,000 is expected. ... The North has a height
advantage in two of its receivers. Fairmont Senior's Ben Kettering is 6-foot-6,
and