WEST PITTSTON – Matt Kurtz was not sure how much playing time would be available to him as a member of the Miners team in the 69th annual UNICO All-Star Classic.
“I tried to compete against other fullbacks and other D tackles,” Kurtz said.
The Lake-Lehman senior wound up doing well enough to fit into the Miners lineup on both sides of the ball.
Once there, he scored a touchdown and was in on two of the game’s biggest defensive plays while helping the Miners rout the Pioneers, 38-0.
Kurtz scored on a 2-yard run for a 21-0 lead with 9:36 left in the first half.
On defense, Kurtz made a tackle for a 12-yard loss, the biggest negative play of the game, on a reverse. He assisted on the second-biggest loss of the day, helping on the tackle on a sack for nine yards.
The experience was full of surprises for Kurtz, particularly in how well players from Lake-Lehman, Dallas, Tunkhannock, Wyoming Valley West, Crestwood, Nanticoke and Hazleton Area got along as teammates on the winning Miners team.
“I got to meet new people,” said Kurtz, who hopes to play fullback while attending Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology in Lancaster. “I thought everyone was an enemy.
“It’s amazing. I loved this game.”
The charity all-star game for graduating seniors of Wyoming Valley Conference football teams was one-sided from the start.
Tunkhannock’s Garrett Hopkins took the opening kickoff up the middle 87 yards for a touchdown.
Justin Timonte from Lake-Lehman added the first of his five extra points. Timonte also kicked a 24-yard field goal, had two kickoffs for touchbacks and kept the Pioneers pinned deep with four other kickoffs inside the 10.
Frank Kutz, Elmer Souder, David Horgerbe, T.J. Meehan and Josh Durling joined Kurtz and Timonte as the Lake-Lehman representatives in the game.
Kurtz carried three times for 12 yards.
Kutz made two tackles and assisted on three others. Souder made a tackle for a one-yard loss.
Dallas had Christian Motley, Matt Ferrara and Michael Anderson.
Anderson was one of the top blockers in a passing game led by the Hazleton Area combination of quarterback Sparky Wolk and his Cougars receivers Jacob Hunsinger, David Smith and Damon Horton. He also had a 49-yard punt.
Hunsinger, playing for his high school coach Michael Brennan, received the George Curry Award as the game’s most valuable player with three catches for 70 yards and a touchdown.
Hopkins was joined by Tunkhannock teammates Zack Rodgers, Matt Rayme, Sergey Montross and Tyler Peterson.
Rayme carried once for four yards.
Montross had a tackle and four assists.
The Miners led 14-0 after one quarter and 28-0 at halftime. They put the game into the Mercy Rule with 3:18 left in the third quarter.
The Pioneers coached by Jeffrey Labatch from Meyers had players from his team, along with those from GAR, Coughlin, Northwest, Hanover Area, Wyoming Area and Holy Redeemer.
