MVCA stars to battle Thursday

The 23rd annual classic will kickoff at 7 p.m. at Hubbard Stadium.

By MARK W. MILLER

VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF

HUBBARD — Athletes representing 18 schools in Mahoning County and Columbiana County and players from 15 Trumbull County schools will compete in Thursday’s Mahoning Valley Coaches Association’s 23rd Jack Arvin Football Classic at 7 p.m. at Hubbard Memorial Stadium.

The two squads are winding down practices and Mahoning-Columbiana coach Mark Assion said, “I think the key to the game is which offensive line executes with consistency. That will mean success.”

Matt Shields of Jackson-Milton, a 6-0, 205 pound athlete will play free safety for Mahoning-Columbiana.

“He has a habit of having a nose for the ball and doesn’t back down from anyone,” said Assion.

The Jackson-Milton coach said Rayen’s Mykal Krill, a 5-11, 305 center/defensive tackle has a lot of knowledge of the game, is a team leader and knows where everyone needs to be.

Canfield guard/linebacker Justin Bonanno (5-11, 210) has impressed the coaches with his tenacity, Assion said.

“He is just a tough, tough kid,” said Assion. “The kids know it’s a privilege to have been chosen for this game and they are tremendously excited about the opportunity.”

Trumbull quarterback

Trumbull coach Jeff Bayuk said LaBrae quarterback Mike Ryan (6-5, 220) will play four quarters in the game.

“He’s a good kid that was all-conference,” Bayuk, the longtime Hubbard coach who will take over at Campbell this fall. “He has a strong arm. He’s smart. He’s doing a good job of running our offense at practice.

“It’s difficult to try and run a new offense, but he is trying to incorporate some of the things he did in high school, while adapting to our way of football.”

A couple of all-state athletes competing for the Trumbull stars are Nick Dominic of Mineral Ridge and Dan Havalo of Hubbard.

Havalo (6-0, 240) was a first team all-state defensive tackle last season and was a honorable mention defensive tackle two years ago.

All-star kicker

“Dominic is an all-star kicker,” said Bayuk. “He has a strong leg and has been booming the ball into the end zone on kickoffs at practice. He also punts.”

He’ll share punting duties with Hubbard’s Steve Cinicola (5-11, 175), who also plays running back and defensive back.

“Cinicola will also kick extra points and field goals for us,” said Bayuk. “One of the challenges as a coach in an all-star game is try to get kids in there to do their thing, get them out and let some others get in there and do their thing.”

The game is named after Arvin, who emphasized sportsmanship and doing all he could to support area athletes, Bayuk said.

“The important thing about this game is these are all-stars and we want them to play hard between whistles and we want them to be sportsmen when the whistle blows,” Bayuk said.