The McDonald’s All-Star Football Classic is a happy event for all participants, coaches and their families.
On Thursday night at Nazareth High School in the 43rd annual game between the red team compiled of players from Lehigh, Carbon and Monroe counties and the gold squad boasting players from Northampton county, Palisades and Phillipsburg, NJ was full of excitement. When the final seconds ticked away the Gold team won the exhibition contest by a score of 13-8 and celebrated like they all earned a Happy Meal for their victory.
If each individual was presented a Happy Meal for the win, Freedom’s Christan Negron would get the MVP award in the form of the coolest toy one can get in a Happy Meal. Negron earned his terrific trinket as his seven carries for 43 yards helped the defending champion Northampton-Palisades-Phillipsburg team take the cake once again.
“I wasn’t worried about getting 30 touches a game like it was back in high school,” said the future Moravian Greyhound. “It was just a fun game and I just wanted a few carries and to be able to just be out with the guys.”
The Gold team, under the tutelage of Pen Argyl’s head coach, Paul Reduzzi, struggled offensively early on. They found themselves down 2-0 after a safety at the end of the first quarter. The “gold squad”, as they affectionately referred to themselves as, had -14 yards offensively at the 11-minute mark in the second quarter. All of that changed quickly though as they went 71 yards in three plays to get on the scoreboard for the first time in the game. The last play being a 37 yard rushing touchdown from Alex Martin of Phillipsburg making it 7-2 after a successful PAT attempt by Max Kroshwitz.
The red team, led by John Toman of Southern Lehigh, mixed it up with their passing and running attacks, however the rushing game proved more successful. Quarterback Danny Marsh from Northern Lehigh had nine rushes for 32 yards under the bright lights at Andrew S. Leh Stadium, his last carry being a 3 yard scamper that ended in the end zone and put six more points on the board for the Lehigh-Carbon-Monroe team.
After the game he talked about his experience with the game.
“It was interesting to see all these new faces come together,” the former Colonial League star said. “Camraderie came really easy as all the guys just wanted to have fun this past week.”
One of those fun-loving teammates that Marsh alluded to is a District 11 counterpart in Whitehall’s Nick Somner. Somner will be heading to Kutztown to continue his career on the gridiron, but to end his high school pigskin career he hauled in three passes for a total of 17 yards.
Somner discussed what preparing for this game entailed.
“It was basically just learning plays. You got all these guys coming in here we had to get some common ground. It was definitely fun, the practices were light. Everyone was getting to know each other. The biggest challenge was getting everyone to learn one scheme.”
The 43rd McDonald’s All-Star Football Classic was another successful event. Thanks to the work of the great Committee members and the people of Nazareth High School. It is an event that high school football players look forward to every year and will continue to do so for decades to come.
