West Virginia holds Ohio to 92 total yard in their 13-9 win in the 77 Annual Rudy Mumley All-Star Game

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David Burnworth | July 23, 2023

Yesterday I made the two-hour drive to watch the 77th Annual Rudy Mumley All-Star Game, which pitted Ohio against West Virginia. The game was as intense as any regular-season game you would see and very competitive, even with West Virginia dominating the stat sheet.

The first half provided just three points, scored by Ohio on a 32-yard field goal by Jace Madzia (Harrison Central) in the second quarter at the 5:20 mark. The defense dominated the entire first half, with several nice plays coming from both sides. Spencer Ostovich (Steubenville) would crush a tough Riley Watkins (Wheeling Central) for a three-yard loss late in the opening quarter. Watkins would come up big when he held a very dangerous Ray Ray Pettigrew (Bellaire) to a short game with a nice open-field

tackle on the Ohio ensuing drive.

The second quarter would see more defense, with Ohio stopping West Virginia on a fourth and fifth attempt when Caleb Riggs (Fort Frye) got to Jacob Coffield (John Marshall) for a sack after the snap was bobbled. Caden Moore (Cambridge) would just underthrow his receiver and pay dearly for it when Watkins made a leaping interception. The West Virginia offense, which was very light in the quarterback department, would line up their biggest weapon. Luca Dilorenzo (Linsly) was in the position, and after he bobbled the snap, he used some Barry Sanders-like moves to make the Ohio defense look silly as he picked up 25 yards. Watkins would make a catch and gain 39 yards, and if not for the speedy Pettigrew, West Virginia would have had the lead at the 2:28 mark of the quarter. Coffield would bobble another snap, allowing Jack Storm (Dover) to be credited with a sack. West Virginia would go for it on fourth and six and again be denied the first down when Ostovich got to Dilorenzo three yards short of the chains. The game got a little exciting when Ostovich coughed up the ball on Ohio’s ensuing drive deep in its own territory, making the recovery for the West Virginia defense with Jamari Bass (Wier) at the Ohio five-yard line. In the twenty-five seconds left in the half, we would see Coffield pick up two yards after he was planted to the turf by Kyjaaun Hopkins (Steubenville), and then Coffield would be picked off by Andrew Vera (St. Clairsville).

The third quarter provided two highlights, one from each team. First, Hopkins stopped Dilorenzo for a three-yard loss. Then it was a sack from Jake Croston (University) on Ohio’s quarterback, Caden Moore.

The fourth quarter was exciting for several different reasons and would have been classified as a good quarter if not for several very questionable calls by the refs that allowed one team to pick up chunk yards at crucial times and almost caused several eruptions from the team that got the short end of the stick. At the 9:40 mark of the final frame, Riggs got to Watkins for a short loss. West Virginia, who basically had zero passing game for most of this one, would go to the air and pick up 26 yards when Coffield found Lorenzo Ferrera all by himself. One minute later, Coffield put West Virginia on the board with a nice 31-yard touchdown pass to Dilorenzo. Trenton Richmond (Oak Glen) gave West Virginia the 7-3 kick with his point-after-kick. On the ensuing kickoff, Zane Kinsey (Toronto) took the ball to the West Virginia 14-yard line. Now, up to this point, Ohio had totaled just 12 yards of offense in the second half, so the fourteen yards needed for the go-ahead score were not a sure thing. C.J. Hannahs (Barnsville) found Jaksan Price for a gain of nine. At the 4:06 mark, Trey Hoover (Buckeye Local) gained a yard to give Ohio a first down. On the drive’s seventh play, Pettigrew muscled his way in for the go-ahead score, putting Ohio up 9-7 with 2:53 left. After some of the questionable calls I mentioned earlier, Dilorenzo would take advantage of the frustrated Ohio defense and again look like Barry Sanders as he broke several tackles on his way to the winning score that came on a 30-yard run. Watkins ended any hopes of an Ohio comeback when he picked off another underthrown ball to end the game.

My stats

Ohio

49 plays

92 yards

4-16 passing, 2 interceptions

West Virginia

61 plays

359 yards

5-15 passing, 1 touchdown, 1 interception