They are the best of the best. These football players are the best players in their high school and for this upcoming game these players are all getting together to play the one game they have all loved and excelled in, the past 4 years.
A couple players from every high school football team in the district are selected to complete in the annual All Stars football game. The teams were selected two weeks ago when coaches from High schools all over the district came together and picked who they thought were the best players to play each position. PHUHS sent Billy Pavlock, Ryan Myers, and Dan Szyszka.
The selected players were divided into teams based on whether they were from a high school in the North or the South district. Each team was made up of about 50 players. The North county school’s practiced at PHUHS fields. Practice was for one week in preparation for the game. The players had to learn how to play with each other since none of them have played with any of the boys on their All Stars team before.
“It was a cool experience meeting new people and getting close with them, we turned into a team,” senior Ryan Myers said.
The All stars game was Wednesday December 14th at 7:00pm. In the first 10 minutes of the game the South side scored a touchdown and caused the tension to raise between the two teams. “The game got really intense really fast. Soon as the first whistle blew. Everyone wanted to win and both teams wanted to win, that itself made everything more intense and crazy at times,” said Myers. As the game progressed North side took the lead the final score was 24:17; North side taking the win.
“I thought it was a great game. Seeing those kids work together as a team was really cool. And getting a win out of it was the icing on the cake,” said PHUHS football coach Matt Lepain.
At the closing of the game, awards were given to players who did excellent at the All Stars game according to the reporters present at the game. These players were Devon Garnet who won defense MVP, Jeff Alberts who won Offense line men MVP. And Donde Daily who won Offense MVP.
“They are all great players and deserved the awards they received,” Myers said
For many of these players this game was the last football game they would play in their high school career. Therefore this game was emotional and very memorable for the players.
“High school season is already over, so some of the stress of winning was off. But, this was the last actual football game I will play in high school so I wanted to make the most of it. It was bitter sweet,” Myers said.