West Virginia takes down Ohio 34-25 in the 28th Annual BACF All-Star game.

Tagged under: All-Stars, Beyond The Keystone, Game Photos, Gameday Hub, News

contributor | June 3, 2023

Last night I was in St. Marys, West Virginia to cover the Battle Against Cystic Fibrosis All-Star football game that pits Ohio and West Virginia against each other on the football field. Ohio entered the game on a four-game winning streak but still trailed West Virginia 15-12 in the series. As I watched the teams warm up, the first noticeable difference was the size of each team’s roster. For Ohio, they dressed just twenty-four players, while the All-Stars from West Virginia had forty. One might say the home state was more serious about winning this game. I was told that Ohio had several players opt out of the game to go on family vacations and for various other reasons.

At the 10:25 mark of the opening quarter, Conner Imboden (Meigs) pulled off a nice fake punt to pick up eleven yards to give the Ohio All-Stars a huge first down. The drive would continue with a 27-yard quarterback run by Jacob Pantelidis. On the point after attempt Ohio could not find the tee, so Zaiden Huck (Ft. Frye) had to make the kick from the ground where he calmly put it through the uprights giving Ohio the 7-0 lead, with 6:26 left on the clock. The drive took thirteen plays, picking up eighty-one yards.

The Ohio defense would get a sack on Trenton Huffman (Doddridge County) when Caleb Riggs (Ft. Frye) busted into the backfield and brought the talented quarterback down for a loss of eleven, forcing West Virginia to punt the ball at the 5:28 mark of the quarter. The West Virginia defense quickly shut down the Ohio offense, forcing a put where Jaylen Hall (Parkersburg) did his best Deon Sanders impression returning the punt sixty yards for a score and telling Ohio they should never punt the ball to him again. Strong-footed kicker, Taylor Thomas (Bridgeport) locked this game up at seven with his point-after-kick with 3:33 left in the opening quarter.

Ohio would make the last big play of the quarter when Panteldis connected with Huck for a 22-yard catch. The drive ended soon after as the West Virginia defense slowly started to take control of the game. On the ensuing West Virginia drive, Huffman found Joey Ramsey (St. Marys) for a big 43-yard gain on third and twelve with 11:16 left in the half. The best player on the field would make his presence known in a huge way with 10:38 showing on the clock Dashaen Webster (Phillip-Barbour) would use some Walter Peyton and Emmit Smith-like magic to go 25 yards for the score to give the home side a 14-7 lead.

The West Virginia defense would get back-to-back sacks from Chris Gons (Mountview) with help from Harbor Haught (Williamstown) to force the Ohio punt. The Ohio defense would make the home side work hard for its next points, which came on a 36-yard field goal from Thomas, making this a 17-7 game. The drive would take nine plays and total fifty-nine yards.

The last 2:53 of the half would bring the smallish crowd four nice plays as each team showed no quit. First, Pantelidis would get sacked, this time by Austin Bartlett (Ritchie). West Virginia would pick up 33 yards on a nice pass by Huffman to Seth Richards (Doddridge County). Then Webster acted like John Riggins as he showed some crazy power on his way to a 21-yard run for the touchdown to make this a 24-7 game. The last of those plays came when Goins got to Pantelidis for a short loss.

The third quarter moved along quickly as both teams went toe to toe without either bending. At the 7:52 mark, Brody Lollathin came up with a nice pick to give Ohio a little momentum. Pantelidis would find River Thompson (River) for a nice 27-yard gain on fourth and eight. The drive would be capped off with a 1-yard quarterback run from Pantelidis. but the point after the kick was wide left by inches, keeping this a 24-13 game with 5:43 left. The West Virginia All-Stars would respond with a 37-yard field goal from Thomas to give us a 27-13 score. The quarter came to an end with Pantelidis being sacked by Demetrius Gearheart (Parkersburg South).

The fourth quarter would bring us three touchdowns, closing out a competitive game that showed both teams giving it their all and neither wanting to end up on the short side of the scoreboard. Ohio would get a 45-yard touchdown pass from Pantelidis, and then Webster scored from 10 yards out. The final score came on a one-yard run from Pantelidis to give us our final score of 34-25.

My Stats

OHIO

62 PLAYS

307 YARDS

Passing, 13-20, 2 TDs

West Virginia

56 plays

383 yards

Passing, 7-14, 2 Ints