WHEELING - High School football in January? In the Ohio Valley it can be argued there is no true offseason.
Almost every school in the area is well into its offseason weight-lifting and conditioning program, but two small school coaching staffs are already formulating early plans for the 67th annual Rudy Mumley OVAC All-Star Charity Football Classic.
Because of the the re-classification required to add a fifth class, the OVAC has elected to start its yearly rotation in Class A. That means the Conotton Valley coaching staff led by Mike Bigler will represent Ohio and oppose West Virginia and the Weirton Madonna contingent led by Doug Taylor.
''I was shocked whenever I got the phone call, as were the coaches when I told them on New Years Eve,'' Bigler said. ''It's a real good opportunity and we're happy to do it.''
It's an opportunity that arose because of the retirement of Beallsville's Dave Caldwell. The veteran Blue Devils coach declined the chance to coach in the game, and the OVAC then went to the next Ohio school in line, which was Conotton Valley.
The Rockets left the conference for a while before returning this season, and because they are on the outer portion of the OVAC geographically, a lot of people may not be familiar with the Bowerston school.
That, Bigler said, makes this even better.
''It's a good thing for the Conotton Valley sports community,'' he said. ''It's great for recognition and brings some notoriety.''
Bigler will be assisted by Eric Schumacher, James Custer, Darren Yosick and Ty Carrothers.
Meanwhile for Taylor, it's a chance he didn't see coming, in part because he's only been the Blue Dons coach for one season.
''I'll be honest with you, I've been blessed with my whole career to work with great coaches and to get to lead the program at Madonna,'' Taylor said. ''We got offered it and kind of looked at it and made sure we wouldn't be taking away from our own program. Our coaches are really excited.
''I'm humbled and really excited.''
Once he and his staff, which includes Jim Petrovich, John McClelland, Ray Pernell and Jon Kendrick, figured out the opportunity was logistically possible, Taylor thought the right thing to do would be to reach out to Bishop Donahue. The Blue Dons won a tiebreaker with the Bishops for the best Class A record on the W.Va. side of the river.
''We've opened the door to them coming and helping us out,'' Taylor said. ''John Durdines is probably going to do it and maybe some of his coaches.
''We've always had a great relationship with Bishop Donahue.''
Both Bigler and Taylor agree that selecting the teams may be harder than coaching the game. They'll chose the best players according to what they want to do schematically, though each said they were open to running any number of offenses and defenses.
''It's actually going to be pretty fun, but going to be pretty challenging,'' Bigler said. ''We're going to be able to hand-pick our team.
''We're getting the best of the best.''
Said Taylor: ''Sometimes that brings on some challenges because there's a lot of good kids.
''We need to go down and look at positions and what we need. There are only 30 some spots to fill, but in a perfect world you'd like to take them all.''
The game is scheduled for 7:15 p.m. on Sunday, July 29 at Wheeling Island Stadium.