Ohio rolls through Pennsylvania in the Big 33 Classic

FROM KEITH GROLLER
HERSHEY — If Saturday night's Big 33 Classic is any indication, Ohio State's beleaguered football program is going to get a boost of firepower in the near future.

But the Cincinnati Bearcats might be getting the most explosive package of all.

Ohio rolled to a 50-14 win over Pennsylvania in the 54th annual high school football game before an estimated 7,000 fans at Hersheypark Stadium and several soon-to-be Buckeyes helped Ohio win its third straight in the series.

Wide receiver Devin Smith, another fleet, Columbus-bound playmaker, caught a pair of touchdown passes.

Doran Grant, yet another Ohio State recruit, put himself into the Big 33 record books for longest touchdown with a 100-yard interception return.

But the guy who tormented Pennsylvania and helped Ohio score the most it ever has in Hershey was Cincinnati-bound Akise Teague, Ohio's Mr. Football and Maxpreps.com's National Small School Player of the Year.

Teague ran for a pair of touchdowns and caught another one in earning Ohio MVP honors.

Two Morning Call-area products, Central Catholic's Shane McNeely and East Stroudsburg South's Kyshoen Jarrett, were among those trying in vain to slow down the Ohio attack.

"They came out firing," McNeely said. "I don't think our defense looked that bad, but our offense couldn't do much and we were out on the field a long time. Hey, it was still an all-star game and a lot of fun."

Fred Ross, the former Stroudsburg coach who coached McNeely and the rest of the Pennsylvania linebackers, said the coaching staff couldn't prepare for Ohio's speed, especially considering the short time frame and rules designed to promote offense.

"As you watched the game, you really saw the team speed that Ohio had," Ross said. "We knew that coming in and then we really saw it."

Ross, though, was still proud to be involved and thankful for the opportunity to coach players like the New Hampshire-bound McNeely.

"I am being real serious when I say that Shane McNeely really played well," Ross said. "He was like the captain of the defense and really worked hard out there. They did a lot of things right and we made a lot of mistakes that hurt us in critical situations. You're going to have broken plays that turn into touchdowns in games like this."

Ohio enjoyed most of those broken plays.

Teague finished with 102 yards rushing on eight carries and also caught two passes for 66 yards.

Teague had 73 yards rushing in the first quarter alone with all but one yard coming on his two TD runs.

He scooted through the middle for a 52-yard TD run to start the scoring and then slipped several would-be tacklers on a shorter, but more spectacular, 20-yard TD run as Ohio built a 14-0 lead after one quarter.

Later, the 5-foot-9, 178-pound Youngstown product, somehow slipped out of the backfield unnoticed and didn't have a Pennsylvania defender within 10 yards of him as he caught a 40-yard TD pass from Jones.

"All week there were words going back and forth and I felt like we had to leave it alone," Teague said. "We left it on the field."

Pennsylvania, which was outgained 422-243 in total yards and had negative rushing yards, did manage a pair of touchdowns.

Rutgers-bound Sean Barowski from Bishop McDevitt had a short scoring run in the first half after Pennsylvania recovered an Ohio fumble. Barowski was named the Pennsylvania MVP.

Harrisburg's Quinton Sullivan hauled in a touchdown pass from Bishop McDevitt's Matt Johnson for the other score.

Johnson, headed to Bowling Green, managed to complete eight of 19 passes for 159 yards, but was under siege from the quicker, stronger Ohio defense most of the night.

It was Johnson's second straight loss at Hersheypark Stadium. He was also the quarterback for the McDevitt team that lost to Central Catholic, 28-27, six months earlier in the PIAA 3A title game.

McNeely, who was credited with three tackles, missed the state championship game because of a high-ankle sprain and was happy to finally get to play on the artificial surface at Chocolatetown.

"It was exciting to finally play on this field," McNeely said. "This was still a lot of fun. I made a lot of friends with guys who are going to go on to have great careers. We're going to stay in touch."

A large contingent of Central Catholic fans, players and coaches were in Hershey to see McNeely's final game as a high school player..

Head coach Harold Fairclough and most of the CCHS staff joined with players and parents in a festive tailgate that began several hours before the opening kickoff.

"We're here for Shane tonight," said Jeanine Faust, mother of Central Catholic player Connor Faust, before the game.

"We had a tailgate for all of our games last season, all 16 of them, and we thought we'd do it again to salute Shane. This time the coaches and players could join us when obviously they had other things to worry about during the season. It was nice to have everybody together again and we're so happy Shane's finally getting to play in Hershey."

It wasn't just the graduated seniors who stopped by Central's pregame picnic. Those visiting included star quarterback Brendan Nosovitch, who has an excellent chance of playing in the 55th Big 33 Classic next June.