Footballs will be flying through the air in McDonald's All-Star Football Classic

http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/sports/index.ssf/2012/06/footballs_will_be_flying_throu.html FROM THE EXPRESS TIMES Rob Melosky used the spread offense at Nazareth Area High School this past season and was successful with it. He'll be using it again in the 42nd annual McDonald's All-Star Football Classic on June 21 at Andy Leh Stadium in Nazareth. Only his quarterbacks on the Gold roster have never played a down of it. Melosky has only two quarterbacks on his roster -- Liberty's Jim McCarthy and Pen Argyl's Conor Gum -- but both played in run-oriented offenses during the past season. Gum, in fact, is listed as defensive back/wide receiver on the McDonald's roster and Melosky said at Wednesday night's news conference at Starter's Riverport that McCarthy may see action at wide receiver. Click here to see the rosters for the 42nd annual McDonald's All-Star Football Classic Melosky will coach the Gold squad while Chuck Dailey of East Stroudsburg North, an Easton Area High School grad, will guide the Red squad. The Gold squad consists of players from Northampton County and Phillipsburg with the Red comprised of schools from Lehigh County and the Mountain Valley Conference. "You have these kids coming in here for a week and a half of practice, so things have to get watered down quite a bit," said Melosky, The Express-Times Coach of the Year in 2011 who led Nazareth to a 12-2 record which included the Lehigh Valley Conference and District 11 Class AAAA championships. "A lot of teams use the spread, so it's the easiest one to implement for a game like this. We're going to throw the football, that's for sure." Melosky, who also coached in the McDonald's game in 2002 when he was the head coach at Parkland, even hinted that McCarthy, who efficiently directed Liberty's triple-option attack last fall, may not even play quarterback in the game. That leaves Gum, an excellent two-way athlete who threw the football just 98 times last year in Pen Argyl's 13-1 season. Dan Harding, Nazareth's all-state quarterback who's headed to the University of Akron, is not playing in the game. Melosky said Harding played in the recent East-West game and did not want to play in two all-star games so close together. The Blue Eagles' star receivers, twins Adam and Andrew Bridgeforth, were both selected but Adam can't play because of a hamstring injury he sustained late in the track season. Each team must throw the ball a minimum of 25 times in the game and blitzing, looping by defensive linemen and zone coverage in the secondary are prohibited. Dailey is also using the spread even though his East Stroudsburg North team ran out of the Navy triple option this past season. "Everybody uses (the spread), it's easier for me adapt to it than having everybody else adjust to what we use up at East Stroudsburg North," said Dailey, a 1983 Easton grad. "Plus, the rules of the game play into this kind of offense." Ty Edmund of Southern Lehigh and Feliciano Agosto of Lehighton are the Red team's quarterbacks. "Agosto I'm more familiar with because he plays in our (MVC) conference," Dailey added. "He's got a cannon for an arm. Really strong. You just try to find the mismatches on the field and let it fly." Practices will begin Monday at Nazareth and will run 4-6 p.m. for the Gold team and 6-8 p.m. for the Red squad. A 9 a.m. scrimmage is scheduled for Saturday, June 16. Proceeds will benefit the Ronald McDonald House charities.