WHEELING — Is it Saturday yet?

An impressive collection of football talent from the Class of 2025 is anxiously counting the days until they get their chance to write a triumphant chapter in the generations-long storybook which continues Saturday as the 79th Annual OVAC Rudy Mumley All-Star Football Game kicks off at 7 p.m. in Wheeling Island Stadium.

That excitement, though, has to be tempered by preparation.

“We’re excited, we’re ready, and we wish it were Saturday,” Union Local head coach Bernie Thompson, who is coaching Ohio’s team, said after his team’s practice on Thursday. “We don’t want to wish days away by any means, we’re grateful for the experience, but we’re ready to go, no doubt about it.

“We’ve been hitting each other for a few days now and we’re anxious to go hit somebody else. I’m just excited to see these guys in live action. These are good kids, hard workers, and it’s going to be exciting come Saturday.”

The yearly challenge of shaping a group of All-Star players into one cohesive All-Star team was taken up this year by Thompson on the Ohio side and Cameron head coach Tim Brown on the West Virginia side, and both coaches feel confident about their group’s progress with Saturday hurtling towards them.

Unsurprising, perhaps, considering the caliber of players both sides are working with.

“This has been a fun, unique experience to have 33 kids, 33 personalities come in the same room and be able to install a defense, an offense, and feel confident in doing so,” Thompson said. “Our staff has done a phenomenal job of prepping everybody up until this point, and I feel like we’re in a good position. Credit to the kids, they came in ready to work, great football IQ’s, and they’ve been a pleasure to be around.”

“You can see the progress every day,” Brown said before his team practiced on Thursday. “Obviously when you get an All-Star team, some kids are playing out of position, playing a different spot. We had a couple kids who had to go home, really sad, deaths in the family, and our thoughts are with them. As far as the team morale, it’s been fantastic, no ego problems, they’re gelling, having fun, listening to the coaches and helping each other out. It’s what you think of when you think of All-Stars, guys who are leaders, who are good people. That’s what I’m seeing.”

Another yearly challenge? Figuring out how to deploy all your chess pieces on that fateful Saturday in the right places, the right amounts, and the right times.

Quarterbacks usually are front-and-center in that respect, but West Virginia has one quarterback on their roster, Weir’s Lucas McCallister, who will be taking the snaps for the Mountaineers.

Different story for Ohio– they will need to balance two talented tossers in St. Clairsville’s Brady Schafer and Steubenville’s Aiden Davis. Both are coming off of great senior seasons– Schafer’s Red Devils went 13-1 while he threw for 1801 yards and 18 touchdowns, while Davis’ Big Red went 13-1 as well, Davis throwing for 2,270 yards and 15 touchdowns, adding another 11 on the ground.

“Both quarterbacks have been phenomenal to work with,” Thompson said. “Both great teammates first and foremost, both great football players. They know the game and they want to be out there competing and I respect both of those kids. Our job as coaches is to A. get everybody prepared, and B. put them in a position to go make plays.

“It’s fun to do so when you have 33 talented kids. It does make it difficult sometimes because there’s only one football and it’s a challenge to get everybody the ball. At the end of the day, our objective is to win the game, it’s not to have individual accolades, it’s to make sure Ohio wins the game.”

Singling out a handful of players is difficult on an All-Star Roster, but within Ohio’s skill-position ranks is first-team All-Ohio running back Dino Burk, Indian Creek’s career rushing leader Zion McGee, Union Local’s career receiving leader Dre Saunders, East Liverpool’s first 1,000-yard receiver Blake Adkins, and many, many more.

The Buckeyes’ defense includes first-team all-state defensive wrecking balls Alex Reese and Braxton Ross.

What may be Ohio’s biggest strength, though, is their offensive line, where they have an embarrassment of blocking riches between Andrew Pickenpaugh, Wyatt Conner, Salvador Almaraz, Ben Burgey, Myles Cooper and Carson Temple.

“It starts up front– in any game, whether it’s a regular season game, an All-Star game– if you have linemen up front who can do their job, that gives us an advantage,” Thompson said. “I like what we have up front on both sides of the ball, big, strong kids who are very physical. Then, we also have some great athletes, some kids with speed. We want to get them the ball in space. I’m pleased from top-to-bottom how everything has gone thus far from the coaches to the players. It’s been a complete buy-in, we’re all on the same page trying to get prepared for Saturday.”

Alongside McCallister, who passed for over 1,400 yards with 17 total touchdowns in his senior season, West Virginia will be able to lean on multiple players accustomed to carrying the load for their teams. Runners like two-time first-team all-stater Klypsan Wallace, 1,000-yard receiver Andre Crossland, jack-of-all-trades Dragon Slaton Pettit, and explosive deep threat Ramello Derr begin to shape out West Virginia’s skill-position talent.

“The good thing about that is, there’s a lot of talent on the roster,” Brown said. “You can go through offense and defense– some of these kids have played both ways, and some of them will play both ways Saturday. Some kids, we’re picking one side of the ball.

“The question is, how do we mesh the best? And my offensive and defensive coordinators, my special team coordinator, have figured out who’s going to make their plans work with these groups of kids. You’re not going to see one kid not playing or anything– though we do have one kid injured, so that’s going to be depending on how he does leading up to the game– but these kids are going to play, that’s what they’re here for, to have some fun. We’ll see what happens.”

Defensively, the Mountaineers have just as much if not more talent. John Marshall linebacker Maverick Lemasters, Wheeling Park linebacker Coldin Burkhart, Madonna d-lineman Wes Molish and Cameron defensive back Mason Scott were all named to All-West Virginia defensive teams last fall, with Lemasters and Scott being named first team, Burkhart and Molish second team.

“Defensively, we have a very knowledgeable linebacker crew and group of defensive backs,” Brown said. “Very athletic up front, defensively. We’re going to be out-sized a little bit, but I think you’re going to see that our speed in our scheme is going to be very helpful slowing them down. Offensively, we’ve really started to gel here, our linemen are really getting the scheme. I think we’re going to be able to run the ball and be a really balanced attack because they’re really getting it up front.”

Both teams also have more-than-serviceable kickers in Brooke’s Chase Hile and Barnesville’s Evan Lough.