WHEELING – After being held scoreless in the first half, the West Virginia OVAC all-stars outscored Team Ohio 13-2 in the second half to claim victory in the 77th annual Rudy Mumley OVAC all-star football game, avenging a loss to Ohio a year ago.
Linsly’s Luca DiLorenzo scampered into the end zone for a 33-yard touchdown with 55 seconds remaining for the go-ahead score giving his team a lead they wouldn’t surrender. He also caught a 20 yard touchdown pass from quarterback Jacob Coffield in the third quarter that also gave Team WV a lead.
“I’m so proud of these kids they fought until the very end,” West Virginia head coach Mike Young said after the victory. “Ohio was down there and had all the momentum but we kept fighting and didn’t give up. They kept their heads up. And Luca, what can I say, he’s a gamer and made a huge play for his team.”
The only scoring in the first half at all was on a field goal by Ohio with five minutes left until halftime, as both defenses held strong against their opponents. Unable to break team Ohio’s lines, Young knew his players were emotional in the locker room, but was quick to remind them of the situation at hand.
“The first thing I said was that it was the longest halftime they’d ever have in their life,” Young chuckled. “But we reminded them that we had the whole second half to play and we were only down three points, so we just had to keep playing football and we did that.”
After the touchdown pass from Coffield to DiLorenzo, the ensiuing kickoff was returned by Ohio all the way to the 14-yard line of WV, and after converting a 4th and 1, Ray Ray Pettigrew stumbled into the endzone, giving Ohio the lead 9-7 after a missed extra-point attempt.
With just under three minutes to play, Coffield and WV drove to the 30-yard line of Ohio, aiming to at least get into field goal range for a chance at the win.
DiLorenzo had other plans though, and after receving a hand off to the right side, cut back to the left, made three defenders miss, and ran into the end zone for the go-ahead score.
“I just took what I had and made something happen,” he said after the game. “You have to do what you have to do to win, always. It’s huge to win this game after growing up and watching it. We were talking about how we needed to play our style more after the half and that we weren’t giving the fans or West Virginia what they deserved.”
Young credited his team for the week of work they put in to get to the victory on Saturday.
“It’s a great group of kids and they deserve every bit of this,” Young said. “It’s so rewarding right now because of what they’re able to celebrate, and it will continue to be rewarding throughout their entire lives as they look back on the victory.”
West Virginia 0 0 7 6 – 13
Ohio 0 3 0 6 – 9
West Virginia – PASSING: Coffield 5/10-105-1 RECEVING: Watkins 3-63, Ferrera 1-26, DiLorenxo 1-20-1 RUSHING: Coffield 8-38, DiLorenzo 13-95-1, Ferrera 9-62, Watkins 7-28
