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Trumbull wins shortened game in Jack Arvin Classic
hubbard
Thursday’s Jack Arvin Classic featuring area senior football players was no simply-roll-out-the-ball game.
Multiple hard hits led to tempers flaring, multiple penalties and the referees abandoning the game with 3:15 to play.
Trumbull County’s seniors beat Mahoning/Columbiana, 20-7, at Hubbard Memorial Stadium.
Warren Harding alumnus Lynn Bowden had three touchdowns to take home Most Valuable Player honors for Trumbull while JC Mikovich was Mahoning-Columbiana’s MVP after he took a punt return 75 yards for a touchdown.
Things were chippy throughout with referees occasionally having to get between players. Harding’s Marlin Richardson was ejected after sharing words with the Mahoning-Columbiana sideline. Things continued to escalate and the game was ended immediately after.
“When people think of an all-star game they might think of an NBA type or NFL type where you just let things go,” Bowden said. “But not in Northeast Ohio. It’s the birthplace of football and we play the toughest football not just in Ohio but around the world. Teams just try to go at it and get a [big] margin of victory over everyone so it’s going to be a fight.”
Bowden was hit for a 9-yard loss on the first play of the game from scrimmage but from there on he did little wrong. On the first play of Trumbull County’s second drive, he took a handoff 65 yards for the opening score.
In the second quarter, Bowden hit Howland alumnus Tyriq Ellis on a 71-yard screen pass on third-and-25 to make it 14-0.
“It’s easy [when you’ve got Bowden and Ellis],” Trumbull head coach Dan Williams (McDonald) said. “You don’t have to coach much when you have those two guys. You put the ball in your play-makers’ hands and let them do what they do best.”
Mahoning-Columbiana had little offensive success throughout the night but Austintown Fitch’s Mikovich gave the southern counties some life when he caught a punt in stride and took off down the left sideline for a touchdown.
“It was amazing to go back out on the field and be able to do that again,” Mikovich said. “Getting to the end zone was the most amazing feeling.
“My Dad coached me at Fitch saying to catch the ball on the fly. I caught it in stride and said ‘I’m going for six.’”
The final score came when Bowden dropped back and heaved a ball up for Richardson, who jumped up at the goal line to bring it in.
“[Richardson] called the play himself,” Bowden said. “He told coach ‘I’m going to get it.’ That’s my boy and I trust him. He made a play.”
Despite the marred finish, Mikovich said that’s what happens when you have a game of very talented players.
“You have a bunch of all stars and the all-star mentality is to compete to their hardest ability and I think that’s what every person decided to do,” Mikovich said. “That’s why there was more seriousness. But it was really fun to play against them and I had a great time.”