Licking County 27 Muskingum Valley 21 (ALL STAR GAME)

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Licking County 27 Muskingum Valley 21 (ALL STAR GAME)

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Last night in Thornville, Ohio at Paul Culver Jr. Stadium the 38th annual all star game took place between Licking County and Muskingum Valley. The crowd was big, almost playoff like and at times they were loud, especially the Licking County side. Paul Culver III, and most of the Sheridan Generals staff would be pacing the sideline for the home side (Muskingum Valley), while Jason Lee, from Lakewood along with most of the Lakewood Lancers staff would be working the Licking County side.
Licking County would strike first on a one play drive, that ended with a Chase Whisner (Licking Valley) pass to Lucas Pierce (Newark Catholic) Whisner threw a pretty ball and Pierce made a fantastic catch. The point after off the foot of Craig Zies (Granville) put Licking County up 7-0, with 9:04 left on the first quarter clock. The touchdown was set up, after Trent Compton (Granville) pounced on a Muskingum Valley fumble. The rest of the quarter would go by rather quickly, with two nice plays coming from both teams. The first was a 13-yard gut run from, Carter Dosch (Zanesville Rosecrans), where his offense line opened up a nice size hole. The other play was made by the Licking County defense, when Blade Williams (Licking Valley) stuffed Jacob Rhodes (Sheridan) for a 6-yard loss.

There was a lot of action in this game, with most of it coming in the 2nd quarter. Just six seconds into the quarter, Licking County would light up the scoreboard again, This time Whisner acted like former Licking Valley great, Storm Klein as he took off on a 11-yard touchdown run. The point after kick was block by Ben Larson (John Glenn) keeping this a 13-0 game. Just a little over a minute after the score, CJ Kelly (Licking Heights) pounced on a Rhodes fumble, to give Licking County the ball again. The Muskingum defense just missed a pick on the ensuing Licking County drive, when Nick Ranalli (Sheridan) had the ball bounce off both of his hands. Muskingum Valley's defense would force a punt shortly after.

Tommy Wolfe (Granville) would pick off a Muskingum Valley pass, with 7:29 remaining in the half and from there the offense would light up the scoreboard again to put Licking County up 20-0, with 4:59 left in the half. The touchdown would be set up by a 12-yard catch from Marshall Flynn (Heath). The score would come on a 31-yard run from Whisner, at the 4:49 mark. Muskingum Valley would answer the score, when Joseph Clifford (John Glenn) struck like lighting on a 54-yard run. The former Little Muskie is very fast and seems to have good field vision. The point after kick off of the foot of Cole Casto (Sheridan) cut the Licking County lead to 20-7, with 4:03 left in the half. The final 2:57 off the half was as action packed as the first 9:03 seconds was. With soft coverage being played by the Muskingum Valley defense
Nate Curren (Johnstown) would catch two passes, one for 38-yards and the other for 11-yards. Those catches set up the next score, that came on a 4th and 11 conversion by the road team. Mitchel Coultas (Licking Heights) would catch a pass and score from 27-yards out. After the point after kick the all stars from Licking County had a 27-7 lead. A 41-yard catch from Carson Stottsberry (Philo) and a roughing the passer call against Licking County, on a pay that seen Coultas pick off the Muskingum Valley pass would set up the next score from the home team. That score came on a 6-yard pass from Luke Fargas (Tri-Valley) to Rhodes. The point after kick cut the lead to 27-14.

As the teams headed to the locker room, I looked at my unofficial stats and said wow!!! Licking County had thrown for two touchdowns and overall completed 11-16 passes. I also noticed that Licking County had a 229-193 advantage in total yards and led the turnover battle.
Me and a couple of fans, who have a long history of coaching in their background agreed if Licking County continued to throw the ball, taking advantage of the soft coverage the 2nd half could be very long for the home team. Well things did not turn out like that at all. Licking County even with the soft coverage remaining on the Muskingum Valley side only threw the ball five times, with one of them coming on third and goal from the one yard line.

Muskingum County had a 29-yard touchdown pass called back with 9:36 left in the third quarter, when they were called for having an ineligible receiver down field. That play was made even larger when, Cooper Campbell (Granville) picked off a pass in the end zone to get the licking County defense off of the field, with 9:11 left on the clock. The third quarter would fly by but before it ended Muskingum Valley would get a 24-yard touchdown pass from Fargus to Blayze Taylor , then after the point after kick we had ourselves of 6 point game.

The fourth quarter, though scoreless still had enough action to keep the fans on the edge of their seats.
With 9:25 left, Owen Loughman (Sheridan) caused a fumble and Jake Hoover (New Lexington) pounced on it to give the home team the ball. Then with 4:44 left Conner McLaughlin (Licking Valley) used some nice blocking to pick up 28-yards for Licking County. On the same drive Licking County needed one yard to putt his game away as they faced 3rd and one from the one. On the drive they had, had success running the ball and everyone setting on the home side, where I was waited for one of the talented backs to get the ball and follow the big line into the end zone, but a pass was called and was not close to being completed. Making matters worse the 18-yard field goal that followed was missed keeping this a six point game, with 1.56 left. Say what you will, question the call, say a coach out coached himself or say it was a great call because nobody expected it, whatever the case a coach knows exactly why he called what he did. Muskingum County's chance to win this game had been earned but taken away just as quickly when Grant Myers made the biggest play he made in this game, a interception that send the home crowd home and the away crowd to its feet with a loud cheer or a sound of relief. Any case we, the fan was treated to a very good hard hitting football game.


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