Inaugural Bucks-Montco Lions All-Star Football Classic was a doozy

WARMINSTER – The inaugural Bucks-Montco Lions Club All-Star Football Classic certainly provided all the fans filling William Tennent’s stadium with wire-to-wire excitement. From Montco’s explosive opening to Bucks’ heroic last-minute drive, the All-Stars certainly lived up to their billing.

Pennsbury’s Mike Alley, starting quarterback for Bucks County, definitely sensed the game’s real import. “It was awesome. It’s the greatest feeling getting together with the guys you play all year round and who you hate during the regular season. It’s a really great experience coming together as one team in a short amount of time and playing for each other and making a bond you can’t get anywhere else than playing some football.”

The bonding included battling back from a rough start. Montco struck first in dramatic fashion. Cheltenham’s Braden Mack took the opening shotgun snap, stepped up in the pocket and fired a 65-yard scoring strike to his regular season teammate Akeem Brown. Upper Dublin’s Todd Sprit split the uprights with the extra point kick to give Montco a 7-0 lead only 11 seconds into the game.

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The Bucks All-Stars answered with a sustained scoring drive of their own. Mike Alley engineered the march, mixing the hard running of Harry Truman’s dual threats Justin Fant and Maurice Jackson with quick passes to Neshaminy’s Denzel Hughes. Central Bucks South’s Steve Iannuzzi capped the drive, kicking a 20-yard field goal.

Mike obviously felt quite comfortable with his ‘new’ backfield mates. “I played with Denzel Hughes on a 7-on-7 team. I played with Maurice and Justin in middle school football. It’s the greatest experience to be back together knowing you’ve got the best guys in the area making one of the best teams you can have.”

Hughes would end up with nine catches for the night, good enough to earn his team’s most valuable offensive player award. Fant led all rushers carrying the ball nine times for 38 yards.

After Montco coughed the ball up on their next series, the Bucks stars went to work again. This time, they finished their short drive with an eight-yard scoring strike from Mike Alley to Maurice Jackson. “We faked a run. I pulled it out and saw it open up. I knew if I put it up and Maurice caught it, there was no stopping that guy.”

For the rest of the first half, the defensive talent took control. In all, the two squads could manage only 44 total yards rushing. The sum included several negative yards due to quarterback sacks. Council Rock North’s Tom Hewitt earned the Bucks’ most valuable defensive player award, sacking the elusive Braden Mack three times.

Montco re-took the lead when Mack plunged in from one yard out in the closing seconds of the second quarter. Bucks retaliated early in the fourth quarter when Quakertown’s Tom Garlick, who alternated quarters as signal-caller, ran one yard to paydirt, giving Bucks a 17-13 lead.

The scoring jaunt by Garlick was set up at the end of the third quarter by a little Bucks trickery involving a throwback to Mike Alley. “That’s another play me and Maurice had a good connection on. I took the snap and gave a little toss to Maurice. All the play action went to the right and I was left open on the left side of the field. Maurice threw a perfect ball. I had a defender on me. I kept my eyes on it and reeled it in.”

Bucks County’s four-point lead would not hold up. After a controversial unnecessary roughness call gave Montco a first down deep in Bucks territory, the mercurial Braden Mack took charge. With 90 seconds left on the clock, he scrambled around, avoided several would be tacklers and fired a 35-yard strike to North Penn’s Nyfease West.

Though down 19-17 with under two minutes to play, the Bucks All-Stars refused to surrender. Starting from their own 23, the golden-clad diehards drove all the way to the Montco seven yard line. The key play was a sensational catch by Pennsbury’s Rob Daly who hauled in the 30-yard desperation pass with three seconds left on the clock. Unfortunately for Bucks fans, the last ditch field goal attempt sailed wide to the right.

The disappointing 19-17 loss did not dampen Mike Alley and his teammates’ spirit. “Of course, it was frustrating to lose a game that way. But you can’t blame the kicker. He’s a heckuva player. He’s not even a kicker by position. You have to give him the credit for having the guts to try. We understood we played our hearts out and gave everything we could on the field.”

More importantly, all the players’ efforts supported the Lions Club and their charitable causes.. “It was a nice way to play my last high school game, coming to play with a bunch of All-Stars. It was a great first game to start the Bucks/Montco tradition. We played for a great cause and did everything we could to raise money. I think we set the bar pretty high.”

Few fans would argue with Mike’s appraisal. It was a thrill-packed inaugural contest.