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The 65th annual Rudy Mumley OVAC All-Star Charity Football Classic is still more than eight months away.

Still, preparations are in full swing.

Late last week, Brooke's Tom Bruney and Buckeye Local's Ron Pobolish formally accepted invitations to coach the West Virginia and Ohio squads, respectively in the annual summer football showdown. The game is slated for Sunday, July 25 2010.

BRUNEY made the most of his first season as the Bruins' head coach. He guided Brooke to an undefeated regular season and a trip to Wheeling Island Stadium for the Super Six two weekends ago.

"We're extremely proud of the accomplishments of our team," Bruney said. "It started the first day we met on May 21 where we laid out our plan for the program, our expectations and how we planned to install it."

The Bruins finished second in the OVAC Class 4-A standings despite their 10-0 mark and overcame several adversities both on and off the field en route to the perfect season.

"Now that we've had about 11 days or so since the (state championship) game, it's been refreshing to look back on the year we had," Bruney said. "The run we went on was a direct result of a wonderful group of kids and a very hard-working and loyal coaching staff."

In the playoffs, the Bruins rallied past 16th-seeded Princeton in the opening round and then cruised past Ripley and University en route to Wheeling Island Stadium.

"We were probably ahead of schedule with what we accomplished," Bruney said. "But, it was wonderful to see week by week the pride and the tradition resurfacing in our community and in our kids. Everyone says we brought the pride back. Well, it was always here, but it was misplaced and through the effort of our kids and coaches we brought it back to the top where it belonged."

Traditionally, deep postseason runs are made with a large senior class, but the Bruins did it with seven seniors on the roster.

"The fact that we only had seven seniors was one of the things that really concerned me when I first got the job," Bruney admitted. "During our first meeting with the kids, we held our seniors back and told them usually coaches build from the ground up, starting with their freshman or even their junior high programs, but we told them we weren't going to throw them aside.

"We used reverse psychology and built from the bottom up, but our seniors were on the bottom shoving everyone else up."

As for the all-star game, this is Bruney's first assignment in the game. He played in the 1981 contest under current Monroe Central coach Jay Circosta.

"There was never a doubt in my mind that if (the OVAC) offered it to us that we'd accept," Bruney said. "I played for Ohio, my dad played at Ohio State and I'm a Buckeyes fan, so if someone's got to beat Ohio, it might as well be me and this Mountaineers team."

Bruney and his entire coaching staff will be involved in the week-long process that begins July 18 with camp at West Liberty University.

"This is a perfect reward for our coaching staff," Bruney said. "We're really looking forward to picking the team. We think that will be the most fun part of the whole experience. We'll go over the nomination forms as closely as possible and try to find the best 30 or 32 players we can, coach them and see what happens because we're looking at this as our only shot."

POBOLISH, meanwhile, could have easily been on a lengthy vacation at the time of the OVAC All-Star Game after he announced his retirement prior to the start of this past season.

He could have done that especially after the fact that his Panthers sent him out on a high note. Buckeye finished the campaign 8-3 with both an OVAC Class 4-A title and as well as a Buckeye 8 title. Throw in a Division III, Region 11 home playoff game and it was quite a year for the Panthers.

"We had the type of team that could surely get beat anytime we stepped on the field, but at the same time, we had a team that could have played with and beat anyone on any given night."

For Pobolish, this assignment is another way to honor the work put in by the coaches and all of the players during his career at Buckeye.

"Sometimes you don't appreciate winning, but when I came back the second time we had to work extremely hard to become respectable," Pobolish said. "We battled hard to earn that respect back and it goes to show with patience and hard work what you can achieve, so this is a great way to honor the Buckeye Local football team."

After the Panthers' season ended with a loss to Canal Fulton Northwest during the first round of the playoffs, many speculated whether or not Pobolish would accept this post with the all-star game.

"I am accepting this position on behalf of Buckeye Local," Pobolish said. "I can remember struggling to 1-9 and 2-8 seasons, so I'm accepting it for Buckeye and the hard work the kids and coaches put forth."

Pobolish met with his entire varsity coaching staff and all assured him they were on board regardless of who may or may not be the head coach next season.

"Our coaches absolutely wanted to do it," Pobolish said. "I will admit I had my doubts because you obviously can't coach this thing by yourself, but our coaches were gung-ho about it, and it's a great reward for our program and team. They all told me if one of them is fortunate enough to get the head coaching job they would all want to coach."

Pobolish wasn't able to play in the game after his graduation from Dillonvale High School because previous NCAA laws didn't permit future collegiate players from playing in the game.

Since he's entered coaching, Pobolish has been involved with the game five previous times. Three of those were as a head coach and he owns a 1-2 mark in the contest. He was an assistant for Ohio in 1975 and for West Virginia in 1980 under Jake Olsavsky and Jerry Drake, respectively.

Obviously, Pobolish is well aware of the challenge of selecting the Buckeyes' roster.

"We have a pretty good idea about a lot of the players, but we'll have to research some on the fringe area of the OVAC," Pobolish said. "Plus, we're excited that we'll have the opportunity to coach some of our own kids again. Obviously, we won't announce those until later, but having the chance to coach some of our own kids again was another big part of the reason."

An official kick-off meeting to plans for the game will be held next month on a date yet to be determined.