Fri. Mar 29th, 2024

The Central Pennsylvania Football Coaches Association has set Saturday, June 18, as the game date for the Twenty-first Lezzer Lumber Football Classic. The game will be played at Huntingdon’s War Veterans Field and game time is set for 7 p.m. The annual Classic features 80 players from 30 schools in Bedford, Blair, Cambria, Centre, Clearfield, Huntingdon, Jefferson, Juniata and Mifflin counties.
Lezzer Lumber of Curwensville, is the third corporate game sponsor for the Classic in the past 21 years. Lezzer Lumber is a building and construction supply company with three locations in the region at Curwensville, Dubois and State College. Overall, Lezzer Lumber has nine locations in Central and Western Pennsylvania.
The Centre Daily Times, J. J. Powell/Snappy’s, Forever Broadcasting of State College, and the Pennsylvania Football News continue to serve as co-sponsors for the event.
Tickets are available at three Lezzer Lumber locations, Curwensville, Dubois and State College. Pre-sale price is $5.00 per ticket for both adults or students. Head coaches from each of the participating schools will have tickets available for pre-sale. Tickets at the game will be $6.00 for students and adults.
Jeff Vroman of Philipsburg-Osceola will be the head coach for the North squad. Jeff’s 2004 Mountie team shared the MAFC Nittany Division title with Bellwood-Antis and Tyrone and completed the season with a 9-2 record. P-O split a pair of games with Tyrone, handing the Golden Eagles their only loss of the regular season and then getting hammered by Tyrone in the second round of district playoffs, and suffered an overtime loss to Bellwood-Antis during the season.
Associate coaches for the North will be J. Gawen Stoker, head coach at Indian Valley, Bill Hayward of West Branch, and P-O assistants Jerry Delucia, Tom Lumadue, Brad Whoolery and J. R. Baughman.
First-year head coach Mike Smith of Juniata Valley, will be the head coach for the South squad, which features players from both Tyrone and Bellwood-Antis. In Smith’s first season at the helm of the Green Hornets, Juniata Valley completed the regular season undefeated (9-0) and the season 10-1, their only loss to Bellwood-Antis in the district playoffs.
Associate coaches for the South will be Frank Baker and Mike Hudy from Huntingdon, and Juniata Valley assistants Don MacEachern, Jim Wagner, Don Price and Bill Musser.
Both teams will hold practice during the week of June 13-17 prior to the football game. The North Squad will practice at Philipsburg-Osceola High School, while the South will practice at Juniata College’s Knox Stadium in Huntingdon.
Special features for the 2005 Lezzer Lumber Classic will be the honoring of the 2004 Coaches of the Year. Andy Evanko of Curwensville, will be honored by the North and John Hayes of Bellwood-Antis, will be the South honoree. Player profiles from the 1995 Uni-Mart Classic will feature Chad Kroell of Clearfield, who played for the North, and Cliff Anders of Huntingdon, who played for the South. Coaches Dave Lintal of State College, and Gary Hubler from West Branch, will be inducted into the CPFCA Coaches Hall of Fame.
Eight to 10 individuals playing in the Classic will be selected as Scholarship winners. The CPFCA will have awarded $70,000 to 140 recipients over the past 20 years.
Most Valuable Players for offense and defense will also be selected for both teams.
The Central Pennsylvania Football Coaches Association (CPFCA) and the Central Pennsylvania Chapter of the National Football Foundation/College Hall of Fame, will host the first Lezzer Lumber Football Classic Golf Tournament on Sunday, June 12, at the Standing Stone Golf Club in Huntingdon. The proceeds from the tournament will benefit the scholarship funds for both organizations.
Jack Bailey of Philipsburg, will be the Game Director.
Local athletes who were selected for the Classic include Ben Gummo, Brandon Maceno, Brice Mertiff and Ralph VanAllman from Tyrone and Brandon Cherry, Dwayne Cherry, Travis Ehredt, Derrick Hoffer and Dustin Hoffer from Bellwood-Antis.

By Rick