The eyes of a high school football-watching nation will be on Wheeling
Island Stadium on Monday, Sept. 1, as the inaugural Friends of Coal
Prep Classic will kick off at noon in what figures to instantly become
a marked calendar date for high school football fans around the country.
The event is the brainchild of Bridgeport, Ohio, native and St. John
Central graduate Ken Halloy, the president of Halloy Boy Sports
Marketing, Inc, based out of Columbus.
Halloy, who has a strong history of success in coordinating events like
this, including the wildly popular McDonald’s Kirk Herbstreit Ohio vs.
USA Challenge, figured a high school football-crazed area like the Ohio
Valley was a natural fit.
By JIM ELLIOTT, For The Times Leader
June 12, 2008
The eyes of a high school football-watching nation will be on Wheeling Island Stadium on Monday, Sept. 1, as the inaugural Friends of Coal Prep Classic will kick off at noon in what figures to instantly become a marked calendar date for high school football fans around the country.
The event is the brainchild of Bridgeport, Ohio, native and St. John Central graduate Ken Halloy, the president of Halloy Boy Sports Marketing, Inc, based out of Columbus.
Halloy, who has a strong history of success in coordinating events like this, including the wildly popular McDonald’s Kirk Herbstreit Ohio vs. USA Challenge, figured a high school football-crazed area like the Ohio Valley was a natural fit.
‘‘I just always wanted to do something like this down here,’’ Halloy said. ‘‘It’s the one thing I could do. I thought it would be fun to bring a high-caliber football event to the Ohio Valley.’’
They don’t get much bigger than this.
Included in the six participating teams, there are three defending state champions that were unbeaten last season (Wheeling Central, Thomas Jefferson, Pa., and Pittsburgh Central Catholic) and another, Lakeland, Fla., that won back-to-back mythical national championships in 2005 and 2006.
The schedule for the Labor Day games is: Noon — Cleveland Glenville Tarblooders vs. Thomas Jefferson (Pa.) Jaguars; 3 p.m. — Lakeland (Fla.) Dreadnaughts vs. Pittsburgh Central Catholic Vikings; and 6 p.m. — Wheeling Central Catholic Maroon Knights vs. Steubenville Catholic Central Crusaders.
‘‘I was ecstatic over the kinds of teams we were able to attract,’’ Halloy said.
There’s some strong high school football lineage tied up in those schools, beginning with Pittsburgh Central Catholic, which lists Pro Football Hall of Famer Dan Marino and former West Virginia University and current St. Louis Rams quarterback Marc Bulger among its graduates.
Cleveland Glenville, which is coached by Ted Ginn Sr., is practically a feeder school for The Ohio State University. Among its notable alumni are Ted Ginn Jr. (receiver for the Miami Dolphins), Troy Smith (quarterback for the Baltimore Ravens), Donte Whitner (safety for the Buffalo Bills), and Antwaun Molden (cornerback for the Houston Texans).
Lakeland is the alma mater of the most famous XFL player who ever lived in Rod Smart, better known then as ‘‘He Hate Me’’ and Ronnie Ghent (tight end for the New Orleans Saints).
Thomas Jefferson is proud to call Tyler Reed (offensive lineman for the Chicago Bears) an alum. Steubenville Central is the place where a former NFL All-Pro and record-setting receiver calls home in Danny Abramowicz and, Abramowicz’s cousin Tom Franckhauser who scored the first touchdown in the history of Dallas Cowboys, is a former Crusader. Wheeling Central’s Bill Gompers played running back for Notre Dame and the Buffalo Bills in the 1940s.
That was then; this is now.
‘‘This team from Lakeland (which is expected to be a Top-10 team nationally when the preseason polls are delivered) plays the caliber of high school football that folks in the Ohio Valley have never, ever seen,’’ Halloy said. ‘‘Pittsburgh Central Catholic will be a great, great football game.’’
Lakeland is coached by Bill Castle, who was recently named the high school coach of the century for the state of Florida, and it’s been reported there are as many as 16 potential Division I college prospects on the team.
That’s the ‘‘national game.’’
Wheeling Central, which has won four straight W.Va. Class A Super Six Championships and 33 consecutive games overall, will be matched up against Steubenville Central, which is two seasons removed from playing in the Ohio Division VI state title game in the local game.
Thomas Jefferson went 16-0 last season and captured the 2007 Class AAA Pennsylvania title, while Ginn Sr., Glenville’s coach, has a record of 103-26 in 12 seasons at the helm. This is a game with plenty of regional flair.
‘‘The idea here was to showcase the passion of the fans of Ohio Valley high school football,’’ Halloy said. ‘‘The players might be bigger and faster in the (national) game, but the intensity and the passion will be the same.’’
Those are just the games. This two-day event actually begins Sunday, Aug. 31 with ‘‘An Evening With Don Nehlen & Friends,’’ a tribute to the former West Virginia University football coach. Scheduled to be held at WesBanco Arena, the event will be emceed by former ESPN personality Roy Firestone.
This roast-style gathering has a list of heavy hitters of the college football coaching fraternity scheduled to attend, including John Cooper (Arizona State, Ohio State), Terry Donahue (UCLA), Vince Dooley (Georgia), Pat Dye (Auburn), LaVell Edwards (Brigham Young), Hayden Fry (Iowa), Don James (Washington), Frank Kush (Arizona State), Dick MacPherson (Syracuse), Bill Mallory (Colorado, Indiana), Tom Osborne (Nebraska), John Ralston (Stanford), John Robinson (USC), R.C. Slocum (Texas A&M), Gene Stallings (Alabama) and George Welsh (Virginia).
Former Ohio State football recruiting coordinator Bill Conley (now the feature ‘recruiting writer’ for ESPN.com), along with former basketball coaching greats Rollie Massimino (Villanova, 1985 National Champion) and Chuck Daly (Detroit Pistons, 1989 and 1990 NBA Champions) will also be in attendance. The cost to attend this event is $3,500 for a table of eight.
At 9 a.m. on Labor Day, Story Time With The Coaching Legends will be held at the arena, featuring many of the above coaches as guest speakers. This event is open to the public.
Fact Box
Sunday, Aug. 31
An evening with Don Nehlen & Friends
5-9 p.m. at WesBanco Arena.
Tickets for a table of eight cost $3,500
Contact: Ken Halloy at (614) 394-2282 or ken.halloy@fahlgren.com
Monday, Sept. 1
Breakfast With the Coaching Legends
9 a.m. at WesBanco Arena
Tickets are $25
Contact: Ken Halloy at (614) 394-2282 or ken.halloy@fahlgren.com
Monday, Sept. 1
The Games
(at Wheeling Island Stadium)
Noon
Cleveland Glenville Tarblooders vs. Thomas Jefferson (Pa.) Jaguars
3 p.m.
Lakeland (Fla.) Dreadnaughts vs. Pittsburgh Central Catholic Vikings
6 p.m.
Wheeling Central Catholic Maroon Knights vs. Steubenville Catholic Central Crusaders
Tickets are $15 for all three games, with in-out privileges allowed with a hand stamp. Advance ticket locations will be announced soon.
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