Staff photo / Brian Yauger. Team Ohio quarterback Beau Brungard breaks away from a pair of two would-be Team Penn tacklers during Thursday’s Penn-Ohio All-Star Classic.

BEAVER FALLS, Pa. — From rivals to teammates.

South Range and Springfield are not fond of each other. Depending on the person you ask, that might be an understatement.

But now, the schools have something to bond over as each school is sending one of their stars to the Division I college level at Youngstown State.

Springfield’s Beau Brungard and South Range’s Dylan Dominguez got the chance to get to know each other during two weeks of practices leading up to Thursday night, as they represented their schools and their state as a part of the Penn-Ohio All-Star Football Classic.

Brungard joked that he and Dominguez hated each other in high school and this was a good way to build up some chemistry now that they’re going to be teammates.

“It was definitely good. Just getting to play with him because when we were in high school, we were archrivals, we didn’t really talk a lot. We kind of hated each other I think,” Brungard said with a smirk. “Now that we’re teammates, tonight really helped, getting out and just bonding and just playing a game together. It was a good feeling. It definitely built up our chemistry and it helped us a lot.”

Safe to say if there was any bad blood, that’s long gone.

The pair definitely know each other better after Thursday’s performance which saw Brungard hitting Dominguez on an 11-yard pass to score what would be the game-winning touchdown.

“It was just pure excitement,” Dominguez said. “I caught it. I jumped in there and I just couldn’t wait to get back and celebrate with the team. It was crazy. I was looking in the backfield and I caught it. I didn’t know if I was going to get blindsided, so I turned my head and there was some space.”

That touchdown concluded what was a five touchdown game for Brungard, four through the air and one more on the ground. Brungard went 14-of-15 and passed for 252 yards.

In Brungard’s final season with the Tigers, he amassed 3,533 total yards, throwing for 1,779 yards and running for 1,754 yards, and had 54 total touchdowns.

Dominguez recorded over 1,000 rushing yards each of the last three seasons. In the Penn-Ohio game, Dominguez had 45 receiving yards on three catches and 17 yards on eight carries.

Dominguez, often a man of few words, was thrilled to not only play with Brungard, but a bunch of the other players he and the Raiders have gone against over the years.

“I loved playing with Beau because I’m going to be playing with him at YSU and I think it’s a great experience to become closer friends with him now,” Dominguez said. “As well as everybody else. I got to play with my high school teammate again, Connor Jones. I just liked to play with all the kids I’ve played against around here in high school.”

With football season fast approaching, now the real work begins.

“Early morning workouts and just every day getting stronger and faster,” Brungard said about his summer plans and preparations for YSU. “In fact, I’ve got to wake up (Friday) morning at 5 to go in and do a workout. It’s a grind, but it’s something I love. I love it down there and the coaches are great, and it’s just home for me. It’s hard work but I love doing it.”

Dominguez will be playing primarily on the defensive side of the ball with the Penguins and Brungard is expected to get reps and compete for time at the quarterback spot.

byauger@tribtoday.com