Wash High’s Adkins shines in all-star game
Most high school athletes don’t get a second chance to play their final game.
Washington’s Kurt Adkins was among the local football players to get another opportunity to finish their high school careers Saturday night in the Tri-County Football Coaches Association BeeGraphix Football Classic.
Adkins made the most of the opportunity.
With the game being played at Wash High Stadium, Adkins went out with a bang on home turf, being named the Offensive MVP for the North squad as it defeated the South, 14-6.
Adkins scored both of the North’s touchdowns, one rushing and one receiving. He finished with 103 rushing yards on 17 carries and also caught a pair of passes for 13 yards.
“It meant the world to me to be able to play one more game,” Adkins said. “Especially to be able to play in my home stadium in front of my home fans. My heart hurts knowing I won’t play another game on this field, but I think I went out on a good note.”
The game started slowly as both teams struggled to move the ball.
Neither team could score until the South made an impact on special teams. Brownsville’s John Pascoe blocked a punt and Belle Vernon’s Michael Semancik scooped up the ball and raced 33 yards for the first points of the game, giving the South a 6-0 lead late in the second quarter.
Semancik was named the Defensive MVP for the South.
The North, coached by Charleroi’s Donnie Militzer, answered.
Taking over with just 2:42 in the first half, the North squad managed just one first down in the game up until that point. But Militzer made it a point to get Adkins the ball and it paid off.
Adkins carried the ball four times on the drive for 25 yards, but made his biggest play in the passing game, hauling in a 27-yard touchdown pass from Canon-McMillan’s Dom Eannace with 48 seconds left in the first half to send the game into the locker room tied 6-6.
Eannace completed 6 of 12 passes for 88 yards and a touchdown.
“That was the plan all along to get Kurt the ball,” said Militzer. “There’s a limit. And you have to throw the ball so much in this game. But Kurt Adkins is a special player and we didn’t want him to lose on his own field. It was a great night and the kids played hard and physical all night. We came together pretty well in under a week.”
The North scored on its first drive in the second half when Adkins found the end zone from a yard out. The drive was set up by a 26-yard pass from Eannace to Canon-Mac’s Ahmad Morris-Walker. The Big Macs made their presence felt on the drive as C-M’s Jordan Smith ran in the two-point conversion to make it 14-6.
“I think we started clicking for a bit late in the second quarter and the beginning of the third,” said Adkins. “We got in a groove and made some things happen.”
The South didn’t do much offensively all night and mounted a final drive late in the fourth quarter, even converting on a fourth-and-40 play to continue the drive, but they couldn’t manage much more after that.
The drive came to a close when McGuffey’s Nick Haynes intercepted Albert Gallatin’s Hunter Moody in the end zone.
Moody was named the Offensive MVP for the South. He completed 4 of 9 attempts for 61 yards.
He was under pressure for most of the game as the North racked up eight sacks. Three of those came from Bethel Park’s Sean Davis, who was named the Defensive MVP for the North.
Even though the South came up on the short end on the scoreboard, it was a positive experience for all of the coaches and players.
“Any time you get to work with an all-star team it is a lot of fun,” said Mapletown head coach George Messich, who coached the South. “I’m really proud of them and it should be a game they remember forever. That is the way all-star games are supposed to be.”