North vs South games
Massillon High school
April 30th
12 pm & 4 pm
It has been touted as the nation's longest-running high school football all-star game. Yet, not even the Ohio North-South Football Classic could prevail against everything which overtook the world over the previous two years.
However, after a two-year hiatus on actually playing the game, the North-South Classic will be played for the 75th time on Saturday afternoon inside Massillon's Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.
The game
returned to Massillon in 2017, its first time back in Stark County since 2000. The 2020 game was
canceled due to COVID, and while rosters were announced last year, no actual game was contested.
To get you ready for the on-field return of the game, here's some things you need to know about the 75th North-South Football Classic.
When are the Ohio North-South Football Classic games
There will actually be two games Saturday, a big-school game involving players from Divisions I through III at noon, and a small-school game involving players from Divisions IV through VII, at 4 p.m. It's actually reversing the order of how the doubleheader had been structured since it was dividing into a two-game format in 2013.
How to buy Ohio North-South Football Classic tickets
As for tickets, they can be purchased through the
Ohio High School Football Coaches Association's web site. The cost is $10 for both games.
What Greater Akron/Canton area players are in the Ohio North-South Football Classic games?
Stark County, the host county, will have a total of eight players between the two games. Massillon's Austin Brawley and Jaiden Woods,
McKinley's Harold Fannin Jr.,
Hoover's Drew Logan and
Alliance's Stephen Gales will were named to play on the big-school North team, while
Canton South's Caleb Lott,
Central Catholic's Ben Hopkins and the Fairless tandem of
Hunter Campbell and
Coltin Colucci were named to the small-school North team.
Summit County will have 11 in the big-school game: Hoban's
Mike Noe, Hudson's
Aiden Lal, Walsh Jesuit's
Christian Ochei and
Jack Romanini, Green's Trey Martin and
C.J. Dawson, Nordonia's
Cooper Rusk and
Bryan Russ, St. Vincent-St. Mary's
Tariq Montgomery and
Shawn Lodge, as well as Barberton's
John Jackson. Also from the area in the big-school game on the North team will be Streetsboro's
Hunter Hopperton, Aurora's
Kevin Paul, the Medina trio of
Nick Manley,
Matt Spatny and Juan Jackson, along with Brecksville's
Matt Rose.
Also representing the area on the small-school North team will be Garrettsville's
Anthony Demma, West Branch's
Nick Wilson, Greg Rockwell and Steven Marra, Southeast's
Spencer Mesaros and the Dalton duo of
Jaden Schlabach and
Jaiden Malone.
Familiar faces on Ohio North-South Football Classic coaching staffs
Medina's Larry Laird and
Ursuline's Dan Reardon will serve as the head coaches for the North teams in the big- and small-school games, respectively. Laird guided the Bees to a 13-1 record and a regional runner-up finish this past fall, while Reardon led the Irish to an 11-4 mark and a
Division IV state runner-up finish.
Laird's staff will include
Walsh Jesuit's Nick Alexander. Reardon's staff, meanwhile, will include
Fairless' A.J. Sarbaugh and
Southeast's Patrick Youel.
The South teams will be led by
Zanesville's Chad Grandstaff (big-school) and
West Jefferson's Shawn Buescher (small-school). Grandstaff finished a 15-year head-coaching career with the Blue Devils this past season, while Buescher led the Rough Riders to a 13-2 record and a state semifinal appearance.
There's a Stark tie-in on Buescher's staff. Jackson High School graduate Jeff Essig, now the
head coach at Bethel-Tate, will be one of his assistants.assistants.
Reach Chris at chris.easterling@indeonline.com.
On Twitter: @ceasterlingINDE