Licking County All-Stars looking to end two-year losing streak

HEATH, Ohio – First year head coach Tim Ward hasn’t been in charge of the Heath football team long but he’s dialed in now to take control of the Licking County All-Star team.

Ward took over head coach responsibility after longtime head coach Mark Collier stepped down. He’s in charge of a Licking County team that has lost the last two games to the Muskingum Valley group.

“Outside of scrimmages a lot of the Licking County teams don’t play most of the Muskingum County teams. It’s kind of fun.  We read about them in the paper and such but it’s kind of neat to get a chance and go play against them,” Ward said.

This will be the 35th Licking County-Muskingum Valley All-Star game with the Muskingum team holding the all-time edge 18-16. The Muskingum Valley won last year’s contest 38-9.

Licking County’s roster has 26 players from nine different high schools. The backfield will be stacked with Heath’s Aaron Latiolais starting at quarterback. He passed for over 2,000 yards and rushed for more than 1,000 yards while taking the Bulldogs to an undefeated regular season.

“It’s actually been a really cool experience. Getting to play with the guys I’ve been playing against for the last four years. I’ve been wanting to play in this since 8th grade when I first heard about it. So this has been on my mind since 8th grade,” Latiolais said.

The game is June 23 at 7 p.m. from Philo’s Sam Hatfield Stadium. You can listen to all the action on WHIZ 92.7.