Metro

LEWISTOWN — While both teams may have been loaded on offense during Friday night’s Lezzer Lumber Classic at Mifflin County High School’s Kish Bank Field at Donald M. Chapman III Stadium, it was the defenses who stole the show.

After both teams traded scores from the midway point of the first quarter through the early portion of the second, it was the North squad coming away with the 16-6 triumph over the South.

“After those first two drives, I thought we were going to put up 50,” North coach Chase Hill said. “The offense looked good, moving the ball. It doesn’t matter what I call, they’re all athletes out there.

“They did a heck of a job with a few days of practice. Shoutout to our defense for what they did in that second half.”

After forcing the South into an early three-and-out, the North team went to work capitalizing on a short punt on an eight-play drive capped off by Glendale’s Logan Skebeck to take an 8-0 lead after adding on a two-point conversion.

The South answered on the next drive as Hollidaysburg’s Cole DeLattre connected with Tyrone’s Eli Woomer twice including on a 24-yard pass and 19-yard reception to pull the South within two at 8-6 late in the first.

But the North responded right away as Central Mountain’s Mario Serafini (14 yards) and Clearfield’s Colton Ryan (20 yards) grabbed DuBois’ Trey Wingard pass to help them reach the red zone. Dante Lezzer from Curwensville found Daimear Coad down the sideline from 10 yards out to extend the game back to a two-possession affair.

“Both defenses played well,” South coach Homer DeLattre said. “We had trouble sustaining drives. We hit some big plays that gave us a chance. You got to be able to run the football. We had some trouble running the football today.”

Moving to the third quarter, Cole DeLattre over the middle launched a 56-yard pass to Tyrone’s Brayden Parsons which helped set the South up in the red zone.

The drive stalled out however before the game’s defensive MVP Charlie Hepfel came up with the interception which put the game away as the North ate up the final 10 minutes of game play between Skebeck, Ryan and Philipsburg-Osceola’s Colton Chapman.

“Our defense up front ate up their gaps. Our inside backers played outside of their mind. (Defensive MVP) Charlie (Hepfl) from Central Clarion is an absolute dog. All week in practice he was making my life hard any time we tried to run on him. Our secondary was pretty locked down. If they got a catch, they did a good job limiting the yards after the catch.”

“We tried a trick play with the throwback double pass, but it backfired when we threw an interception,” Homer DeLattre said. “I’m real proud of the kids, they played hard. When we got down, we made a couple adjustments defensively, the defensive coaches did a good job giving us a chance. Offensively, we just couldn’t get into the end zone.”

During the halftime ceremony, Homer DeLattre was named the CPFCA South Region Coach of the Year and received induction into the CPFCA Hall of Fame.

He’s happy to have had the chance to coach two of his sons in the annual all-star game and hopes that his youngest son, Justin, will get to enjoy playing in the event once his high school career ends.

“It was awesome to be able to coach Caden in 2024, it was fun to coach Cole and some of his (future) teammates at St. Francis. It’s a great honor to be selected (Coach of the Year and for the Hall of Fame). Anytime you’re selected by your peers, it’s awesome, and to be able to be nominated for a Hall of Fame, is really something I never expected with years of coaching left. It was a great honor and I’m very appreciative.”

Mirror coverage area players who won scholarships include Daniel Williams of Glendale (Jack Bailey Memorial Scholarship), Parsons (J Gawen Stoker Memorial Scholarship), Juniata Valley’s Bobby Hess (Jason Showalter Landscaping Scholarship), and Bellwood-Antis’ Colin Gibbons (John Hayes Memorial Scholarship).