Ohio storms back to stun West Virginia in OVAC All-Star thriller
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WHEELING - The 80th annual OVAC Rudy Mumley All Star Football Game was a back-and-forth affair Saturday night as both Ohio and West Virginia ran off 21 unanswered points.
However, it was the Buckeyes that scored the final three touchdowns to post an exciting, 28-21, verdict over the Mountaineers before a nice-sized crowd inside Wheeling Island Stadium.
"That was one of the more exciting games that I've been in," Ohio head coach Brett McLean of St. Clairsville said. "It got to be a shift of momentums. We jumped out 7-0 and got a little flat and they capitalized. Then we scored 21 straight."
Trailing 21-7 midway through the second quarter, Ohio, which was expected to use its size up front to pound the ball on the ground, used three touchdown passes from St. Clairsville's Sam McLean to rally for the victory.
"Our sidelines, including the coaching staff, had some long faces," Coach McLean admitted. "All we needed was a spark and we got it right before the half with that late touchdown."
Sam McLean, who was a meager 4-of-6 for three yards in the first half, found Steubenville tight end Nolan Blackburn for a leaping 5-yard catch in the back of the end zone with 75 seconds remaining in the first half that drew the Buckeyes to within 21-14 at the break.
"The first half didn't get off to a great start but we had a really down-to-earth conversation in the locker room at halftime," the young McLean said. "I believed in my receivers and they believed in me. I just let them go make plays."
Midway through the third stanza, McLean pump-faked on third-and-14 from his own 39 before delivering a strike to a wide-open Ollie Muhly, another former Red Devil, for a 61-yard scoring connection. Parker Galloway, also from St. C., evened the score with the third of his four PATs.
"That was like we were back in St. C.," McLean added. "We did that all of our careers at St. Clairsville and we had a week together here. It was awesome to find him for a touchdown."
Coach McLean had seen that plenty of times last season.
"They've done that so many times in practice and it worked out for us tonight,."
Ohio forced West Virginia to punt with just under eight minutes left to play. Starting at their own 21 after Muhly returned the kick 11 yards, Indian Creek quarterback Ian Starkey picked up three yards on a fourth-and-1 to extend the Buckeyes drive. On the very next snap, McLean fired a strike to Steubenville's Trevon Wiggins at the West Virginia 40, The elusive former Big Red broke free from the defender and sprinted the remaining distance for what turned out to be the game-winner. Galloway's PAT made it 28-21.
"I just met Trevon five days ago. I just let it fly and hoped he would make a play, and he did."
Another Steubenville product, Che'Mier Adams picked off the third pass of the game with a little more than three minutes remaining to seal the deal.
"The kids and my assistant coaches made outstanding adjustments at halftime that allowed us to be able to come back and win the game," Coach McLean said. "We came out and made some plays."
The Mountaineers relied on the running on Wheeling Central's Kade Koroneos and passing of Brooke's Ty Sperringer to rally from a 7-0 deficit with 21 straight points in the first half.
Sperringer, the lone QB on the West Virginia roster, connected with University's Glen Brown Jr. twice in the first quarter from 14 and 32 yards. Koroneos then sprinted 78 yards up the middle of the field to give the Mountaineers a 21-7 lead with 9:18 left before the half.
Koroneos would finish with 25 carries for 207 yards and the TD.
McLean was 2-for-2 in the second half for 128 yards and two scores and finished 6 of 8 for 131 and the two TDs.
"Give Coach Doc (West Virginia and Wheeling Park head coach Chris Daugherty) and his staff a lot of credit," Coach McLean continued. "They took it to us there in the first half."
The coach also praised the play of Ohio's other quarterback, Indian Creek's Ian Starkey.
"He had a big throw to start the (second) half to Niko Jacob for 35 yards and that got us going," the coach said. "He had the big touchdown run early and then had the run to seal it. Ian and Sam roomed together all week and became really good friends."
Coach Daugherty said his team left it all on the field.
"Any time you end up in a one touchdown game you always look back and think of certain plays that could've gone one way or another, but it was a good game," he said. "That's the way an All Star game should be played.
"I'm very proud of my guys. We were the underdog per say, but I thought our guys got after them early. We could have stolen this one, but I'm proud of the guys."
The win gives Ohio its first win in the series since 2022 and brings the all-time record to 47-31-2.
Ohio 7 7 7 7 - 28
W.Va. 14 7 0 0 - 21
OH-Starkey 2 run (Galloway kick)
WV-Brown 14 pass from Sperringer (Shreves kick)
WV-Brown 32 pass from Sperringer (Shreves kick)
WV-Koroneos 78 run (Shreves kick)
OH-Blackburn 5 pass from McLean (Galloway kick)
OH-Muhly 61 pass from McLean (Galloway kick)
OH-Wiggins 67 pass from McLean (Galloway kick)
RUSHING: W.Va. 30-180-td (Koroneos 25-207-td, Murray 2-7, Sands 1-0, team 2-(-34). Ohio 30-133-td (Bryant 15-72, Evans 8-43, Starkey 6-24-td, team 1-(-3)
PASSING: W.Va. 3-10-54-2tds-3ints (all by Sperringer). Ohio 9-13-185-3tds (McLean 6-8-131-3tds, Starkey 3-4-54)
RECEIVING: W.Va. 3-54-2tds (all by Brown). Ohio 9-185-3tds (Muhly 2-72-td, Weight 2-18, Bryant 2-(-9), Wiggins 1-67-td, Jacob 1-35, Blackburn 1-5-td)
FIRST DOWNS: W.Va. 11. Ohio 12
FUMBLES: W.Va. 3-0. Ohio 3-2
PENALTIES: W.Va. 10-91. Ohio 8-65