Staff photo / Preston Byers South Range’s Blake Ewert carries the ball for the Ohio All-Star team against the Pennsylvania All-Star team on Thursday night at Geneva College in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania.

BEAVER FALLS — After losing by 17 a year ago, the Ohio all-star team jumped out ahead in the 2024 Penn-Ohio All-Star Football Classic and cruised to a 28-10 victory at Geneva College on Thursday evening.

Ohio took an early lead on a short touchdown pass from West Branch’s Beau Alazaus to Boardman’s Tomas Andujar a little over halfway through the first quarter after United’s Luke Courtney missed a field goal on Ohio’s opening drive and Penn punted on its first possession of the game.

Following the end of the first quarter, Austintown Fitch’s DeShawn Vaughn, who alternated at quarterback with Alazaus, extended Ohio’s lead on a read option in which he kept the ball and strolled into the end zone.

“I thought we came out starting fast,” Ohio and South Range head coach David Rach said. “We had a couple of procedural errors early in the game that kind of set us back and put us behind the sticks a little bit, but I thought coach (Tim) Cooper did a great job offensively of mixing some things up.”

Penn responded quickly, scoring its first and only touchdown of the game on the ensuing possession. Neither team scored during the final nine minutes of the half, as Ohio took a 14-7 lead into the locker room.

After halftime, during which scholarship athletes were honored, Penn posted the first points of the second half with a field goal to pull within four.

Ohio made sure Penn could not get any closer, however, as Boardman’s Willie Torres punched in another Ohio touchdown to make it 21-10 with fewer than three minutes left in the third quarter.

Ohio further solidified its advantage with the legs of South Range’s Blake Ewert, who ripped off a 32-yard run near the end of the third quarter before scoring a touchdown of his own to push Ohio’s lead to 18, where it would stay to end the game.

“I’ll tell you what, it didn’t feel like an 18-point win,” Rach said. “It felt like it was really back and forth and a really well-played game by both sides.”

Ewert and Columbiana’s Kian Hartley were named the Ohio team’s offensive and defensive most valuable players, respectively.

Have an interesting story? Contact Preston Byers by email at pbyers@tribtoday.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @PresByers.