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Locals donning pads for football classic

MASSILLON — Five local products will don the pads once again when the 73rd-annual North-South Football Classic is held on Saturday inside Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

The classic features the top senior football players in the state as selected by the Ohio High School Football Coaches Association.

Two games will be played. The first, set for a noon kickoff, will feature athletes from Divisions IV, V, VI and VII. The second, scheduled for 4 p.m., features players in Divisions I, II and III.

Big Red, which rolled to a perfect 15-0 record and captured the Ohio Div. IV championship, had three players named to the South squad for the D IV-VII contest. They are offensive lineman Alijah Demitras, defensive lineman Quinton Moore and defensive back Johnny Agresta.

Demitras and Moore will continue their football careers at Walsh University, while Agresta is heading to Ashland University.

Catholic Central’s Vince Oliver Jr., an offensive lineman, is a member of the South squad. He is heading to Penn to continue his academic and athletic careers.

The D IV-VII South squad will be coached by Whit Parks of Loramie. River’s Mike Flannery is a member of the South coaching staff and his outstanding quarterback, Lukas Isaly, is on the squad.

Indian Creek’s Andy Waggoner is the area’s lone representative on the South Div. I-III club. The offensive lineman recently announced his intentions to play football at John Carroll University.

Waggoner’s squad is being coached by Justin Buttermore of Dresden Tri-Valley.

First held in 1946, the NorthSouth Classic is the nation’s oldest-running high school football all-star game. It boasts a legacy of top athletes who have participated in it over the years including Pro Football Hall of Famers Len Dawson, Roger Staubach, Jack Lambert, Alan page, Larry Csonka and Paul Warfield.

The classic was played in Stark County from 1977 to 2000 before moving to Dayton. It returned to Massillon in 2017.

Tickets for both games cost $10 and can be purchased at the gate.

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