GRANGE INSURANCE OHIO NORTH-SOUTH CLASSIC TO FEATURE TOP HIGH-SCHOOL FOOTBALL PLAYERS

GAME SET FOR JUNE 17 AT COLUMBUS CREW STADIUM

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Sixty-eight of the best high-school football players in Ohio will be on display when the Grange Insurance Ohio North-South Classic is played at Columbus Crew Stadium on June 17. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

As the longest running high-school football all star game in the nation, the 61ST Annual Ohio North-South Classic is widely recognized as the leading all star game in the Midwest and among the leaders in the country. This year, the game will again feature most of the top graduating high-school football players in Ohio. Ohio State recruits Jake Ballard, Tyler Moeller, Connor Smith and Robert Rose and Michigan signees Cobrani Mixon and Bryan Wright are among the players in the game. Twelve players in the game have received scholarships from Big Ten schools, and at least 41 of the 68 players will play Division I football next year.

John Magistro will coach the South squad and Vic Whiting of Canal Fulton Northwest will coach the North team in this year’s Grange Insurance Ohio North-South Classic.

Fox Sports Net will broadcast this year’s Grange Insurance Ohio North- South Classic on a delayed basis. Broadcast times will be announced in the coming weeks. The game will be broadcast on radio by WCLT-FM (100.3), a 50,000-watt station located in Newark,Ohio. The game will also be Webcast at www.broadcastmonsters.com

“We are proud to again bring together the best high school football players in Ohio for the Grange Insurance Ohio North-South Classic,” said Paul Farrah, head coach at Louisville High School and president of the Ohio High School Football Coaches Association. “This is the premier all star football game in the United States and the last chance to see these high-school football players compete before many of them go on to play Division I football.”
        
The 61st annual Ohio North-South Classic will again be played in Columbus Crew Stadium, where the game has been played since 2001. The Ohio High School Football Coaches Association, the Greater Columbus Sports
Commission and Columbus Crew Stadium worked together to move the Ohio North-South Classic to Columbus in 2001 after it was held in Northeast Ohio from 1977 to 2000. Columbus-based Grange Insurance extended a title sponsorship agreement last year that will keep the Ohio North-South Classic in Columbus at least through 2007.

“Grange Insurance is proud to sponsor this classic sports event and we salute the fine young athletes who are competing. Grange is committed to supporting young people and through the Most Valuable Player scholarship donation we can also recognize their excellence,” said Phil Urban, president and CEO of Grange Insurance. “As past chairman of Experience Columbus (formerly the Greater Columbus Convention & Visitors Bureau) and a supporter of the Greater Columbus Sports Commission, I want to promote bringing events such as the Grange Insurance Ohio North-South Classic to Columbus. This is a wonderful opportunity for Grange and for our independent agents throughout the state to support the game and the student-athletes in their communities.”

Proceeds from the Grange Insurance Ohio North-South Classic benefit the Ohio High School Football Coaches Association’s Scholarship Program.

“The Ohio High School Football Coaches Association is proud to support our student-athletes through our scholarship program,” Farrah said. “Any Ohio high-school student is eligible for to be awarded a scholarship and we are pleased to be able to award more than 120 scholarships in 2006.”

Ohio All-Star Classic players and coaches will arrive in Columbus on Sunday, June 11. Media Preview Day will be held at 12:15 p.m. on Monday, June 12 at Crew Stadium. The players and coaches will make a variety of public appearances throughout the week, including visits to Columbus Children’s Hospital, Columbus City Council, and a Columbus Clippers baseball game. The Grange Insurance Ohio North-South Classic Scholarship Banquet will be held at 7 p.m. Friday, June 18 at the Greater Columbus Convention Center. The teams will practice at Otterbein College throughout the week in preparation for the game.

Sponsors for the Grange Insurance Ohio North-South Classic include Grange Insurance, Cavalier Coach, Children’s Hospital, Ohio Air National Guard, Ohio Army National Guard, Reebok, Signs By Tomorrow, Telex Communications, Varsity Gold, Wilson, Zides Sports Shop.

                                
Brent LaLonde
cell 614-562-0940                                                

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