North 8 South 6 (WV North Vs South Game)

[LICKING COUNTY FAN]

Today I made the almost three hour drive from Buckeye Lake, Ohio to South Charleston, West Virginia, to watch the North vs. South game.
The crowd, for an all star game was very good, especially on the away side (North) and at times they were loud. Overall I have to say it was worth the drive and the time it took to get there.
The first half was dominated by defense with the two teams combining for a total of 46-yards, with the North having the 35-11 advantage.
The North tried to throw the ball a lot, but the wind played tricks with the ball and a stout secondary on the South side added to the North’s problems. For the half the North would complete just 5-19 passes and throw one pick. On the South side, they ran a total of 17 plays and as mention before, they totaled just 11-yards.

Some big or nice plays in the first quarter came in like this. The North got a 14-yard run from quarterback Connor Neal (Fairmont Senior), just :21 seconds into the game. At the 9:50 mark Neal completed a pass to Exaiver Posey (Fairmont State) but the drive ended with a short punt. The last big play in the opening quarter came when Jacob Hensley (Sherman) picked off a Neal pass.

The 2nd quarter would see Ryan Metzgar (Lewis County) recover a South fumble on the South 5-yard. Though the South defense would get a turnover on downs. With 7:59 left in the half, the South got a 17-yard run from Owen Chafin (Spring Valley) but the drive soon fizzled and a punt would take place. The last bigger play of the quarter would come when, Caleb Richmond (Meadow Bridge) sacked Neal for a ten yard loss.

The third quarter was going along as having the first two, but then with 8:27 left Neal found a wide opened Rhett Heston (Fairmont Senior) over the middle and Heston did not stop running until he had a 73-yard touchdown. Neal would find D’Andre Hollaway in the right corner of the end zone to complete the two point conversion, to make this an 8-0 contest. The two teams would trade picks, with Caleb Bish (Grafton getting the pick for the north, while Jacob Hensley (Sherman) had the honors for the South. Jacob Hartman (Petersburg) would sack the South’s Will Hackney (Sissonville) on fourth down, at the 3:58 mark. The North would get a 57-yard catch from Reggie Redman (Keyser) on a nicely thrown ball from Tre Beard (Musselman) with 3:02 left. The drive ended on the 1-yard line when Beard was stopped.

The defense would get the first big play in the final frame and this was a sack by Jaylon Battaile (Greenbrier East) on Beard, with 8:02 left in the game. With 5:54 left in the game Hartman picked off a South pass and return it 30 some yards for what looked to be a game clinching score, but a block in the back negated the score. The drive ended without a score a few plays later. At the 2:19 mark Cole Rapp (Tucker County) sacked Hackney. Rapp had a very solid game as he was heavily involved in the North’s defense. Hackney would magically avoid getting sacked at the 1:02 mark and somehow get a pass off to Hensley for a short touchdown. The play of the game came on the two point conversion try, with Bish making a last second dive to break up the pass, that would have tied the game.

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