Five area players on Big 33 roster

Columbiana's coach Bob Spaite is an assistant for the Ohio team.
By JOHN KOVACH
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
COLUMBIANA -- The Columbiana High school football team will have two representatives on the Ohio all-star squad when it battles the Pennsylvania all-stars in the 49th annual PNC Big 33 Football Classic June 17 at 7 p.m. Hersheypark Stadium in Hershey, Pa.
Coach Bob Spaite, who is entering his 13th year at the Columbiana helm, will serve as an offensive line coach for the Ohio team, while his protege, Mike Welce, the Clippers' quarterback and free safety headed for Walsh University, will be playing as a receiver.
Other area stars
They will be joined by four other Youngstown area players -- Derrell Johnson-Koulianos (Cardinal Mooney), Kyle Banna (Canfield), Anthony Elzy (Warren JFK) and Levi George (Warren Harding) -- on the 35-player roster.
Paul Farrah (Louisville) is the North's coach.
Johnson-Koulianos, a quarterback at Mooney who recently signed with Iowa, will be at wide receiver, a position he also is expected to play for the Hawkeyes. He also may play linebacker and defensive back.
Banna, Elzy and George will be at their regular positions. Banna, who will attend YSU, will play linebacker; Elzy, earmarked for North Carolina, will be at running back and also will play defensive end. George, who is Toledo-bound, will man the center spot.
Game will be televised
The game, which is expected to attract 25,000 fans, will be televised by the Ohio News Network on Warner Cable and FSN Pittsburgh on Armstrong Cable.
Spaite said that Welce, a versatile and talented player who was a late addition to the North team, has been overlooked as a quarterback talent by college recruiters because of his size (5-feet-8, 185 pounds), but that Walsh will be the beneficiary of this.
"He is an unbelievably-skilled kid that happens to be short. It's not that he is a skinny kid. He is well built. Walsh is a good place for him," said Spaite, pointing out that Welce is the "first player in Columbiana history to rush and pass for over 1,000 yards and also lead the team in tackles. He is the first one to do those three things."
"I would think that his size prevents him from going to a bigger school," Spaite said.
Spaite, who is coaching in his first Big 33 game, said that it's conceivable Welce, a first-team all-Ohioan, will play some quarterback for the North team, but that it is unlikely.
"If we get in a pinch at quarterback, I wouldn't hesitate to play Mike at quarterback. He finds a way to get things done," said Spaite. "He probably will play an inside receiver on all spread sets."
North has three other QBs
Spaite said the North has "three talented quarterbacks" with Drew Kuhn (Louisville), Mike Scheroebberg (Indian Hill) and Johnson-Koulianos, and "probably will start Scheroebberg at quarterback."
Delone Carter from Copley High, who was named Mr. Football in Ohio for 2005, will be the starting tailback for the North. He is going to Syracuse.
Spaite has coached in the Penn-Ohio game four times, including once as head coach in 2004. He said that Walsh didn't recruit Welce just for football.
"They recruited him as an athlete. He will play baseball. He has been one of Columbiana's top baseball players the past three years," said Spaite.
Spaite is impressed by the quality of the players who have performed in the Big 33 game. He said every Super Bowl game has included at least one Big 33 Game player, including quarterback Ben Roethlisberger of the Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers.
The Ohio and Pennsylvania team will have 12 practice sessions over the upcoming Big 33 week. The players will be housed by Hershey-area families
kovach@vindy.com