Ohio head coach Bernie Thompson, left, and West Virginia head coach Tim Brown, right, pictured during Tuesday’s OVAC Luncheon in Wheeling University’s Center for Educational Technologies. The two coaches will guide their players through a week-long camp beginning this Monday and culminating in Saturday’s 79th annual OVAC Rudy Mumley All-Star Game.

WHEELING – Tuesday was a prologue of sorts for the 79th annual OVAC Rudy Mumley All-Star Game, to be played Saturday, July 19 at Wheeling Island Stadium. OVAC Officials and coaching staffs for the All-Star Game gathered in Wheeling University for Tuesday’s All-Star Football Luncheon, where introductions were made, changes to the upcoming game were reviewed, and the head coaches for Ohio and West Virginia got to breathe a sigh of relief.

After hectic weeks of roster construction, the storm has calmed, and the clock has begun counting down until players report to Wheeling University this upcoming Monday for the annual All-Star Game’s week-long camp leading up to Saturday’s showdown.

Rosters still are not completely locked in- they won’t be until Monday- but the two teams each have 33-men rosters on the other side of an arduous selection process.

“Putting the roster together is challenging, a lot more challenging than people might realize,” Union Local head coach Bernie Thompson, who will be leading Ohio next Saturday, said at the luncheon. “People might not understand that there are some restrictions there, and you do have to meet the proper guidelines with putting the team together. And No. 2, the reality is that people have lives and people have busy schedules, so unfortunately some kids had to step out because of their schedules.

“But our roster- when you have so many talented kids across the whole Ohio Valley, we’re talking hundreds of nominations, and you have to narrow that down to 33 kids, it’s not an easy process. Unfortunately you’re going to leave kids off the roster who maybe are deserving, but you have to build it based off your team needs and how we want to run things on offense and defense this week. I’m glad we have the kids who we do have on the team.”

The challenges extended across the river too.

“It’s like anything when you’re dealing with a big organization like the OVAC- just trying to get the athletic directors, the principals, the coaches to communicate with one another,” Cameron head coach Tim Brown, who will lead West Virginia, said Tuesday. “Sometimes you leave a message, and leave another message- and I know they’re busy, they’re doing other things. What should take a couple days sometimes takes several weeks. Then, unfortunately, you might get someone who commits, and then some time later decides to uncommit. Then, you’re trying to call back other people and trying to look through your list again.

“It’s unfortunate. It’s a lack of communication sometimes because it involves so many people who don’t normally communicate.”

What both coaches stressed, though, is the level of commitment they had seen from many who will make up their rosters going into next week.

“First and foremost, what I was looking for all along- I know there’s a lot of talented kids, but I was diving more into their character, how they are as teammates,” Thompson said. “I wanted to do my research, call some coaches, and ask about them and their personal lives. I wanted the right kids on this team representing Ohio, because that matters. I want to go out with 33 kids that care, who are all-in, who are good, loyal, hard-working kids who are going to represent the state the right way. I’m very pleased with the 33 kids who we have on the team.”

Brown gave assistant coaches Derek Martin and Jacob Berger much of the credit for putting together West Virginia’s team as the pair did much of the work in tracking down the nominees from across the Valley.

“My athletic director and my coaching staff worked through that, and it’s quite a challenge but it’s okay, it’s a lot of fun. The kids who commit and get their paperwork in immediately, you know they want to be there. You know they are excited to be a part of one of the biggest games around. The exciting part of it is that you still have those kids who can’t wait to be part of the OVAC tradition.”

“They have good coaches, they have good communities. They want to win on every stage possible. They want to have the opportunity to say, my brother was in this, or my dad was in this, and now I’m in this. This game is a big tradition, spanning 79 years, and it keeps getting better and better. I can’t imagine anybody not wanting to be a part of it, but believe it or not there were a few people out there who weren’t interested. To each his own.”

Around the room on Tuesday, the same sentiments were echoed time and time again- this upcoming week will be a special one for the two squads, as it had been for the past 78 years.

Thompson could speak to that first-hand, having played in the game in 2011.

“This is a very special week,” he said. “It’s a great opportunity to bring people together in one room who you may not have had the opportunity to meet before, and you form a special bond. I got to play in this game and the memories last a lifetime, the friendships last a lifetime. It’s a special group to be a part of.

“I think back of the time I had as a player, and it’s some of my best memories. I got to be a captain for coach [Dave] Bruney back in 2011, and I got to play with a ton of great players. Great memories. I’m looking forward to building these memories with these kids, and for them to go out and represent Ohio and form those memories for themselves.”

WHAT’S NEW THIS YEAR?

As reported earlier this year, the biggest change coming to the OVAC All-Star Game is the introduction of overtime rules following last year’s 13-13 tie, the first game to end in a tie in the long-standing game’s history. 1992’s game was canceled due to weather and went down as a 0-0 tie.

“After last year’s game, it was sort of a let-down for some of the players because they’d worked so hard all week, and then to come out and not have a victor, it soured things a little bit,” Game Director Corey Murphy said Tuesday. “We knew we needed to fix that and that was something we all wanted to work out. We will have a winner no matter what this year.”

OVAC Commissioner Sam Jones explained the details of the new rule to those present Tuesday. If the two teams are at a tie come end of regulation, the game will enter into overtime rules which mimic the current third overtime of NCAA college football rules, where both teams will alternate possession until one team records a score and a stop. After a coin toss to determine the order in which the teams would attempt the tries, either team will get one play from the 3-yard line at an end of the field agreed upon by either coach.

“Each coach will have to have their plans ready to go,” Murphy said. “It will add some excitement to the game, should we get to overtime that is.”

Next Saturday will also see the largest band to ever perform at the event, in a year where the game is seeing strong numbers in all facets.

“Participation is going through the roof right now,” Murphy said. “We’ll have our 66 football players here, we’ll have 25 cheerleaders which is pretty big, and we’re going to have our largest band at 170 kids. The participation throughout the conference has been huge and I think a lot of that has been about being here at Wheeling University. They treat us first-class here, so it’s a great opportunity for everybody involved and it’s a huge week for everybody.”