North-South All-Star Games Set For This Week
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Some of the best athletes in the state from several sports will gather in and around Kanawha County this week with several North-South All-Star games on the schedule for the coming days.
Activities will begin Thursday with the North-South Softball Classic played at Buffalo High School. Friday will feature a doubleheader of the girls and boys North-South All-Star Basketball games at the South Charleston Community Center. Finally, Saturday will see the North-South All-Star Football game played at South Charleston High School.
While there won't be any players from the Ohio Valley taking part in the girls basketball classic, the area will be represented as Wheeling Park head coach Ryan Young will lead the North squad.
"It's always fun to see these kids from all over the state come together and just have fun," said Young, who's coached in the game once before. "I think it's just a good experience for everybody as far as playing one last game before they move on and, for most of them, play in college."
While Young won't be familiar with many of the players on his roster, he knows his assistant coach extremely well. And for good reason, as their teams played five of the most entertaining games of this past high school season. Joining Young on the North sideline will be former Morgantown head coach Jason White, who resigned from his position following this season's Class AAAA state title game as his family prepares to relocate to North Carolina.
"That's one of the reasons I was looking forward to doing it," Young said of getting to coach alongside White.
White told the Charleston Gazette-Mail Tuesday that he plans to coach in Friday's game and then literally get in his car and drive to North Carolina Saturday morning.
"He's going to go down as one of the best coaches in girls high school history in West Virginia," Young said. "He's definitely made me a better coach just because you have to prepare so much for him, he's as good as I've seen. To be able to coach with him in this game, with it being his last one up here, I think it'll be fun."
Jamie LaMaster of George Washington and Pat Jones from Nitro will be coaching the South team. The game is scheduled to tip off at 6 p.m. Friday from the South Charleston Community Center.
"You always want to represent the Northern part of the state well," Young said. "Anytime you get an opportunity in games like this, you want to try and pick up a win for the Northern people, but at the end of the day it's all about having fun."
BOYS BASKETBALL
The boys North-South All-Star Basketball Classic will immediately follow the girls game at 7:30 p.m. in the South Charleston Community Center. Coaching the North team will be Jarrod West from Notre Dame and St. Marys' Mark Barnhart.
The North roster is loaded with talent from the Ohio Valley as Wheeling Central's Ryan Reasbeck, Cameron's Trevor Beresford, Caleb Strode from Tyler Consolidated and Trevor Williamson of Magnolia will all suit up. All four were named first team All-State in their respective classes.
The South team will be coached by Josh Daniel of South Charleston and Wyoming East's Derek Brooks and will feature two-time West Virginia Player of the Year Isaac McKneely from Poca.
SOFTBALL
The North-South Softball Classic will be played Thursday at Buffalo High School.
Four teams representing each region in the state will each play two games Thursday, starting at 9 a.m. with Region 3 against Region 4.
Region 1, which contains the Ohio Valley, will then play Region 2 at 11 a.m.
Following an awards ceremony, game three will feature the losers from the morning games and the day will be capped off with the winners from the morning playing one another in game four.
The Region 1 team will be led by the coaching staffs from Ritchie County and Buckhannon-Upshur, including head coaches Dave Mosser (RC) and Levi Bender (BU).
Local athletes playing for Region 1 include Emilee Knorr from Brooke, Weir teammates Madison Angus and Mallory Rosnick, Hayley Thompson of Wheeling Park and Tyler Consolidated's Audrey Denis.
FOOTBALL
The North-South All-Star Football game will return Saturday at noon from South Charleston High School.
Coaching the North Bears will be Musselman's Brian Thomas, assisted by Matt Altobello (Moorefield), Paul Burdette (Roane County) and Aaron Rule (Hampshire). For the South Cardinals, Spring Valley head coach Brad Dingess will be assisted by Billy Seals (Huntington), Ray Brooke (Huntington) and Trevor Stacy (Spring Valley).
Local players for the Bears include Wheeling Central breakout defensive end Ayden Baker, Cameron All-Stater Issac Ball, Wheeling Park teammates Colt Thomas and Braden Hupp and Oak Glen lineman Dylan Conley.