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Alumni Football USA has organized the Jefferson-Edgewood Alumni Football Game to be played Friday at Edgewood’s Corlew Stadium.
The game is open to all alumni of the respective local schools and the ages of the players will range anywhere from 18 to 48 (or older). Former high school players will put the pads on again with old teammates to play against their rival. More than sixty alumni from the two schools have already registered to play in this game. Rosters for the game will be limited to 40 players per team. Members of the Edgewood team are currently selling general admission tickets until game day, with proceeds benefiting Edgewood athletics.
Until the Brookfield-Hubbard Alumni Game was played in July 2010 in Trumbull County, most former local high school football players never thought they would play again.
“You don’t just play pickup games of full-contact football when you graduate,” Alumni Football USA’s Regional Director Robert Bishop said. “Both alumni teams hosted games in June 2011 and had just enough fun to come back to play in 2012.
“For many guys, football is the biggest thing in their world in high school and then it abruptly ends at senior night forever. Players tell us practically every game how they’ve literally dreamed about the chance to play again.”
Firday’s matchup between former Falcons and former Warriors at Corlew Stadium is only a semifinal, of sorts, though.
“This year, we turned the games into a mini Ashtabula County Tournament, with Lakeside (the lone winner in the county in 2011) hosting the Jefferson-Edgewood winner on July 15, “which will make the games even more competitive and compelling” Bishop said.
Alumni Football USA has been organizing alumni football games over the country for the past 26 years, but has been especially active in this region the past two years.
In 2011, approximately 50 of the 250-plus games organized nationally by Alumni Football USA were played in Ohio or Pennsylvania. Notable rival matchups have included the Odessa-Permian (Friday Night Lights Game) in Texas and the Massillon-McKinley Game in Ohio. Recent Alumni Football USA venues have ranged from Kealakehe High School (Hawaii) to Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas- the site of Super Bowl XLV.
Local communities enjoy a rare chance to watch their former gridiron stars in action again. Schools have the unique opportunity to re-engage alumni and to participate in an enormously successful turnkey fundraiser with minimal effort. Host schools raised in excess of $230,000 in 2011.
Former high school footballers can sign up for the 2013 game at www.AlumniFootballUSA.com or call Bishop at (724) 456.3000 for more information.
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