McDonald's Classic football players enemies no more

When you play in a game like the McDonald's Lehigh Valley All-Star Football Classic, you're representing yourself, your school, and your league.

And, if you play in the Mountain Valley Conference, playing well for your league is often a higher priority than it is for kids from the Lehigh Valley Conference or Colonial League.

It's the old Rodney Dangerfield "no respect" routine.

East Stroudsburg South quarterback Robbie Moyer is finding out, however, that he doesn't have to fight extra hard to fit in with players from the other leagues.

Moyer is one of two quarterbacks for the Lehigh/Carbon/Monroe squad, a unit that blends players from all three area leagues.

"It's fun to meet these kids who you never thought you'd meet," Moyer said after Monday night's practice for Thursday's 40th annual game at Nazareth's Andy Leh Stadium.

"You come down here and you think everybody's the enemy. But the truth is everybody's so similar. Everyone is the same in how they act. Everyone's equal. We're just trying to have fun and play the game we all love."

Moyer admitted, however, that "the MVC is usually down, so it's good to be able to go out there and show that the MVC does have talented players who can play."

Just last Friday night, his East Stroudsburg South teammates Dan Cason and Greg Kessel played in the East-West All-Star Game in Altoona. The Colgate-bound Cason made his mark in the East's 33-7 win with three catches for 69 yards and two TD receptions.

Even with those two in Altoona last week,the Muhlenberg-bound Moyer, who will have a few of his Cavalier buddies with him in Nazareth with offensive linemen Jake Jardel and John Frisbie, would like a similar offensive explosion on Thursday.

"Everything is clicking so far," the 5-foot-8, 170-pound Moyer said. "We're used to running different things, but we're coming together and we'll see what happens."

Regardless of what the scoreboard says at about 10 o'clock Thursday night, Moyer said the whole experience has been a win-win for him.

"Getting to meet guys from different leagues, going to different schools has been great," he said. "You really bond in a short period of time, and you're playing a game you love for a great cause. We're just going to go out there and have some fun.

Emmaus offensive tackle Dakota Brown said the same thing.

"You get to see how cool other kids are," Brown said. "During the high school season you don't hang out with kids from Whitehall. But here you meet them and learn that they're not from the Evil Empire like you thought they were.

"We've got some great kids on this team, some real studs. This kid Rich [Adams] from Pocono Mountain West is real nasty running the ball. We just give it to him and let him go."

Central Catholic coach Harold Fairclough, who is in charge of the Lehigh/Carbon/Monroe squad, has been pleased with how the team is shaping up.

"We're coming along," Fairclough said. "We had a long week last week and were a little sluggish on Friday, but we rebounded nicely from that with a good scrimmage on Saturday morning. It seems to have carried over to [Monday night]. We moved around a lot better and the kids were into it and having a lot of fun at the end.

"It's great to hear the kids busting chops. Even the coaches, who are divided between offense and defense, are going back and forth and chirping a little more."

Everybody was chirping late in Monday's session when Central's Ian Majczan picked off a pass and went about 60 yards for a touchdown.

Teammates and coaches alike whooped it up, knowing they will need more plays like that when it counts against a talented Northampton County/Phillipsburg/Palisades squad on Thursday night.

"We stuck around on Saturday morning to watch them scrimmage and they're looking good, too," Fairclough said of the opposing team. "They're looking good offensively and defensively. They can run the ball really well."

As for his own team, Fairclough talked about the good play he's getting at quarterback from Moyer and Emmaus' Brady Knerr. He also has been impressed with the running of Adams and the defensive work of Salisbury's Tony David and Whitehall's Corey Cesare.

Fairclough said his team has encountered a few injuries, but most of the guys should be ready to go on Thursday.

On the other side, Nazareth star Dan Wilk suffered a knee injury at practice last week and will not be able to participate.

Despite some of the unavoidable negatives like injuries, everyone seems to be enjoying themselves, keeping things in perspective and looking to put on a good show under the lights.

"The whole experience has been everything I thought it would be," said Fairclough, a first-time head coach in this game after playing in it and serving as an assistant.

"The weather hasn't been too bad. The first few days the kids were dying [because of the heat], but it was much better than I thought it would be [Monday night]. We're making sure they get their breaks and the other coaches, especially the guys who have been head coaches before, are really helping me with the practice schedules and keeping everything on time."

Practices, which began last Monday, conclude Tuesday night in Nazareth.

There is a McDonald's Lehigh Valley All-Star Classic Hall of Fame dinner at the Northampton Community Center on Wednesday night. This year's inductees include Rocky Butler, Joe Ortelli, Mike Jones, Dick Snell and Kristin Vitovitch .

And then all the pregame stuff is over and it's time to tee it up on Thursday.

The weather is expected to be humid right through the final whistle, but you get the feeling that the kids and coaches don't mind.

"We're just looking to have a great night of football and have a good time, too," Fairclough said.

From Keith Groller