North, South split annual All-Star games in Massillon

MASSILLON, Ohio — Several area football players competed this afternoon in the 73rd Annual North-South All-Star Games at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium in Massillon.

The first game featured all-stars from Divisions IV-VII. John Glenn’s Justin Heacock, Casey Smith, and Shane Bonner all represented the South squad along with fellow MVLer Isaac Gill of Philo.

The quartet of Muskingum Valley League standouts helped the South to a convincing 42-20 victory over the North.

Justin Heacock earned the start for the South team and went 5/8 passing for 126 yards and a touchdown in the win. His teammate Casey Smith also caught a touchdown pass in the second half from Steubenville’s Javon Davis who was the offensive MVP for the South All-Stars. Bonner and Gill also put together fine performances in their final competitive high school football games.

Heacock is off to Washington & Jefferson College to continue his career, while Isaac Gill will be headed to Ohio University in the fall. Both Smith and Bonner are still undecided.

Also in the Division IV-VII game, John Glenn head coach Matt Edwards joined his former players on the South team as an assistant coach.

In the Division I-III game later in the afternoon, a pair of Tri-Valley Scotties represented the South All-Stars– Jake Mcloughlin and Chase Dinan. Though the North edged out a win in the second game by a final of 20-18.

Unfortunately only one of the Division-II State Runner-ups was able to participate, as Dinan suffered an injury in pregame and was unable to kick for the South team.

Mcloughlin on the other hand, after a quiet first half, caught a 4-yard touchdown pass with under 6-minutes to play for the South, but the two-point conversion failed.

Both Mcloughlin and Dinan are off to Ashland University to continue their athletic careers, though Mcloughlin has chosen the hardwood over the gridiron.

Mcloughlin and Dinan were coached by their former head coach in Dresden, Justin Buttermore, who was the head coach for the South team. Buttermore will be entering his first season as the head coach at Granville this fall.