Area high school players enjoy All-Star football game at Shenandoah

WINCHESTER — Seemingly everywhere you looked at Shentel Stadium, high school football seniors were shaking hands, pulling each other in for quick embraces, or posing for photographs.

Sunday’s Coaches USA All-Star Series game provided an opportunity for players from 23 high schools throughout the Shenandoah Valley to compete in one last high school football game, and it was appreciated greatly.

“It was really nice playing against people we played against during the regular season, and play with the people we played against,” said Handley senior defensive lineman Rodd’ney Davenport, who posed for a photo with his four Judges teammates in the locker room. “And sharing the field with my brothers [at Handley] one last time ... it really shows ‘Handley Pride’ actually means something. We all just came together tonight. It was a fun thing.”

Sunday’s game — which had no admission charge — was the fourth Shenandoah Valley all-star football game organized by Jason Stuhlmiller. His first one took place in 2018 at James Madison University’s Bridgeforth Stadium and featured 16 schools, including nine from the Shenandoah District, seven from the Valley District and two from the Bull Run (Central and Strasburg). Last year’s game involved schools from Rockingham, Shenandoah and Page counties and took place at Broadway High School.

This year, Stuhlmiller decided to incorporate schools from the northernmost parts of Shenandoah Valley, so Handley, James Wood, Millbrook, Sherando, Skyline and Warren County were involved for the first time and made up 19 of the 33 players on the Valley Team. Clarke County did not have anyone participate.

Along with players from Central, Mountain View, Strasburg, Page County, East Hardy and Luray, the Valley defeated the Mountain team 23-14 in a game that ended with 8:48 remaining due to an injury to a player from Buffalo Gap that required lengthy attention. Strasburg’s Mark Roller served as the head coach for the Valley and his assistants included the head coaches during the fall for of all the aforementioned teams except Warren County, Mountain View and Luray.

Sherando wide receiver and cornerback AJ Santiago earned Defensive MVP honors and also had 66 total yards (including five catches for 59 yards), punted twice for 62 yards, and set up the game’s first touchdown with a 16-yard punt return to the Mountain 19-yard line. Page County’s Ty Davis rushed 14 times for 90 yards and two touchdowns to earn Offensive MVP honors.

The 32-player Mountain squad also featured players from Harrisonburg, Waynesboro, Riverheads, East Rockingham, Staunton, Wilson Memorial, Turner Ashby, Broadway, Spotswood and Fort Defiance. Fort Defiance’s Dan Rolfe served as the head coach for Mountain.

Stuhlmiller said this year’s game was originally supposed to take place at James Madison University, but he found out just before Thanksgiving that JMU could not host it to comply with NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision rules regarding high school all-star games. (This is JMU’s first year in the FBS after previously competing in the Football Championship Subdivision.) Stuhlmiller said he’ll look to schedule future All-Star games at JMU, but the plan is to play next year’s game at Bridgewater College if JMU is not an option. Coaches USA would return to SU in 2024 and continue to alternate between the two Division III schools if necessary.

The Mountain practiced twice at Bridgewater this week while the Valley had one practice at Shenandoah, and a walk-through at SU on Sunday morning. Shenandoah head coach Scott Yoder and defensive coordinator Kalvin Oliver were spotted at Sunday’s game, but Stuhlmiller wasn’t sure if any other college coaches were in attendance. He did say Bridgewater’s coaches were at the Mountain practices and that coaches from NCAA Division II Mountain East Conference schools Frostburg State, Glenville State and Concord were in attendance at the All-Star practices.

Perhaps this week’s events will lead to one of Sunday’s players winding up at one of the aforementioned colleges, but the numerous smiles on Sunday showed players were just glad to be playing football, even on a windy day with temperatures in the mid-30s.

Millbrook lineman Markell Harrison — a tackle on offense who was selected to the Class 4 Northwestern District First Team and Region 4C Second Team — said it meant a lot to him that Pioneers head coach Josh Haymore selected him to play.

“I had a fun time,” Harrison said. “And a cold time. Very cold. But it’s definitely fun seeing other kids from other counties, and getting to play with people I usually play against.”

Defense ruled on a day in which the weather made throwing conditions difficult. Mountain had 184 yards to Valley’s 148, and Valley had four takeaways while the Mountain had two.

Valley took control of the game early by taking advantage of excellent field position to score the first 17 points.

Valley forced a three-and-out on Mountain’s first possession, and some pressure helped produce a short punt that only wound up traveling eight yards. Santiago ran toward the ball as it bounced backward and picked it up at the Mountain 35.

After Santiago returned the ball to the 19, Valley scored five plays later when James Wood quarterback Jared Neal threw to the left and connected with Sherando wide receiver/safety Jacob Manuel for a five-yard touchdown with 7:49 left in the first quarter. Central’s Luc Retrosi kicked the first of his two extra points to make it 7-0.

Manuel and Santiago celebrated by leaping in the air into each other, and Manuel slapped hands with Neal on the way down. That was the start of a big day for Manuel, who had one of Valley’s two fumble recoveries after stripping the ball out and also had one of Valley’s two interceptions.

After Mountain started its next possession at its own 19, Central lineman Gaige Lewis recovered a fumble two plays later at the Mountain 7. The Mountain defense held though and Valley settled for a 29-yard field goal from Retrosi to make it 10-0 with 5:42 left in the first quarter.

Another takeaway from a Central player set up Valley’s third score, as James Bland picked off a pass at midfield and returned it the Mountain 30. Five plays later, Davis got his stellar day going by crashing through contact for practically every yard on an 11-yard run up the middle, spinning into the end zone at the end to make it 17-0 with 9:47 left in the first half.

Led by Riverheads running back Luke Bryant (17 carries, 127 yards, TD) Mountain got on the scoreboard by running the ball throughout an 11-play, 56-yard drive that ate up five minutes and 33 seconds. Buffalo Gap running back Dylan Alphin capped it with a three-yard TD run up the middle and Staunton’s Agustin Miguel kicked the extra point to make it 17-7 with 1:07 left in the first half.

The third quarter was dominated by two long drives. Valley drove 70 yards on 11 plays to the Mountain 7 on the first one, but Valley fumbled after the ball was pitched to the right side and Mountain recovered at the 12. Mountain responded with a nine-play, 88-yard drive, with Bryant ripping off a 26-yard run on the play before his four-yard TD run made it 17-14 with 2:03 left in the third quarter.

After forcing a three-and-out, Mountain had a chance to take the lead after a 26-yard punt gave it the ball at the Valley 39. On fourth-and-4 from the 33, Mountain pitched the ball left to Bryant, but Valley was all over it. Skyline’s Jack Clingerman got there first and and Bryant was nailed for a four-yard loss to keep the score 17-14 with 11:49 remaining. Clingerman sprinted well past midfield in celebration.

Santiago was right next to Clingerman as the tackle was made. In the second half, the numerous All-Star game spotters in the press box who were responsible for picking the MVP awards kept remarking how Santiago was running everywhere to make tackles, so he was an easy choice to make as Defensive MVP.

A First Team All-Region 4C selection, Santiago (48 catches, 1,113 yards, 12 touchdowns) understandably gets a lot of attention for his offensive prowess. But he was also a First Team All-Region choice as a cornerback. He had three interceptions even though teams rarely threw toward him because of his coverage skills, and he’s a solid tackler who had 39 stops (25 solo).

“Coach told me to blitz off the edge every time they went in motion,” Santiago said. “It kind of surprised me to get a defensive award. I didn’t even think I was going to play defense. They just threw me out there, and I did my thing.”

Santiago then did his thing on offense as Valley responded with a 63-yard TD drive. After catching a short jet sweep pass running right to left from Handley quarterback Davion Butler, Santiago juked past multiple defenders by the sideline for a 27-yard gain to the 14. Davis finished off the drive with an 11-yard run and three-yard TD run to make it 23-14 (the extra point was blocked) with 9:44 left. Unfortunately, the game ended three plays later due to the injury to the Buffalo Gap player.

Overall, though, it was a worthwhile experience.

“It’s good for the kids,” Roller said. “We get to hang out with each other and discuss different things that we don’t normally get to do. The kids interact with one another. It’s been a great week. We wanted the kids to have fun, and the coaches had a great time interacting with all of these kids.”

Santiago said it was great to see everything come together. At the end, he posed for a picture with Sherando teammates Manuel and lineman Charlie Clawson, and Warriors head coach Jake Smith.

“It was fun playing with different kids I played against,” Santiago said. “We developed a strong bond. Coming out and executing like we did, it was pretty fun.”

Among the other players on the rosters Sunday were: Handley — RB/DB Emerson Fusco, WR/DB Aaron Lee; LB/RB Reilynd Worrell; James Wood — WR/DB Eli Miller; WR/LB Andrew Link; Millbrook — WR/S Tyler Lam, LB Brayden Giza, OL/DL Jett Helmut; Central — WR/DB Ben Walters, WR/DB James Bland, DE/TE Darien Folks; Mountain View — WR/S Micah Stapleton; Skyline — LB/TE Donovan Porter; Strasburg — QB/S Ryan Roller (injured); DL/OL Omari Holliday; Warren County — DL/RB Tyberius Carter, OL/DL DJ Rizzo.

— Contact Robert Niedzwiecki at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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