Photo by Lauren Florence Monroe Central quarterback Malachi Rose-Burton, left, throws a pass over Wheeling Park's Nate Shelek during the OVAC Rudy Mumley All-Star Football Game Saturday inside Wheeling Island Stadium.

WHEELING — Ohio’s offense just had too much firepower to stay quiet for very long.

Following a sluggish first half, the Buckeyes exploded out of halftime with three big plays and three touchdowns in the third quarter en route to a 33-15 win over their West Virginia counterparts in the 76th OVAC Rudy Mumley All-Star Football Game Saturday night inside Wheeling Island Stadium.

“We came in (at halftime) and made some adjustments, (West Virginia) was catching us off-guard with some things that we really weren’t ready for,” Ohio coach Mike McKenzie said after the win. “Credit to the kids, they were able to take the adjustments that we made and come out and execute them.”

Ohio’s running game was nonexistent in the first half, with a net loss of seven yards. Ohio’s only successful offensive possession came when its defense recovered a fumble at West Virginia’s one-yard line. That set up Shadyside’s Wyatt Reiman for an easy one-yard score and an early 7-0 lead. The Buckeyes only gained two other first downs throughout the half, however.

“They were kicking our butt,” McKenzie said. “(West Virginia) Coach (John) Kelley and his staff are phenomenal, the stuff that they were doing had us guessing. As a play-caller, I was guessing. There was no rhyme or reason to what they were doing.”

West Virginia, on the other hand, was able to generate plenty of scoring chances, but failed to capitalize on many of them. They first had to settle for a field goal when they were inside the 10-yard line, which Weir’s Jacob Morgan kicked through from 24 yards. After a touchdown pass from Madonna’s Santino Arlia to Weir’s Carson Yobaggy gave them a 9-7 lead, the Mountaineers recovered an Ohio fumble at the plus-14 yard-line only to fail on a field goal attempt on a bad snap.

Arlia would later throw another score to fellow Maddona product Evan Quering and West Virginia went into the half with a disappointing 15-7 advantage.

“We were in control but we couldn’t score when we had to,” Kelley said. “We probably should’ve had three more touchdowns in the first half and then who knows what would’ve happened.”

McKenzie, who coaches at Beaver Local, said the game felt much worse than what the scoreboard showed and the extended halftime festivities gave his team extra time to make adjustments.

“I think the extended halftime helped us (Saturday),” he said. “Instead of 20 minutes, we had that 30 to 40-minutes halftime and that allowed us to make some adjustments, watch tape a little bit more and were able to make a lot of adjustments after halftime.”

The combination of quarterback Malachi Rose-Burton and Reiman and Jacob Jordan at tailback was simply too talented to be bottled up forever as Ohio came out of the break firing on all cylinders.

First, Rose-Burton, from Monroe Central, broke off a 60-yard touchdown run by following a block from Reiman to the right side.

“We were really looking for a big play just to build the momentum because we needed something to prove to ourselves that we could do it,” Rose-Burton said.

Then, a 33-yard pass to St. Clairsville’s Colin Oberdick set up his former Red Devil teammate Jordan for a six-yard score that put the Buckeyes ahead 20-15.

Ohio’s next drive did not last very long, as Reiman saw the seas part in front of him and ran 80 yards, mostly untouched, to the endzone.

“We were one block away the whole game from busting it big,” Rose-Burton said. “Then we started picking it up and started trusting each other. They blocked the right guys and we hit the right holes and we made it happen.”

In the third quarter alone, Ohio ran for 184 yards and three touchdowns and led 26-15 entering the final frame.

“We changed some things and were running some different plays at the start of the second half,” McKenzie said. “We started to run a little bit with Malachi on some quarterback runs and then Wyatt busted a couple and really opened it up.”

Arlia was the only quarterback on West Virginia’s roster and the Mountaineers struggled to protect him as the game wore on. Ohio racked up six sacks with Buckeye Local’s Justin Driscoll leading the way with a pair. After completing six of his final seven pass attempts in the first half, Arlia missed on his first seven throws to start the second.

“The running quarterback really hurt us,” Kelley said. “Their defense really came after us in the second half and we couldn’t protect our quarterback, to our demise.”

Wheeling Park’s Hunter Nixon was West Virginia’s bell-cow, carrying the ball 22 times, but he too started to slow, gaining just 12 yards on 10 carries after halftime.

All the while, the Mountaineers were still squandering chances on offense. University’s Daminn Cunningham returned a kickoff down to the Ohio 30-yard line and later in the fourth quarter, West Virginia recovered a bad Ohio snap in plus-territory. The offense turned the ball over on downs both times.

“I knew at halftime that we were in bad shape,” Kelley said. “I knew that (Ohio) was going to make a run and then they got a couple of big plays and then once you get the big plays, it’s over.”

Barnesville’s Spencer Bliss scored the dagger on a 10-yard stretch play to put Ohio up 33-15 with less than three minutes left in the fourth quarter. West Virginia punted on its next possession and the Buckeyes ran out the rest of the clock to claim the Bordas & Bordas Cup.

“I’m just so happy for these kids, we had so much fun this week,” McKenzie said. “It’s one of the greatest football experiences I’ve had. To come out with the win and celebrate with these guys is just phenomenal.”

Reiman (138) and Rose-Burton (101) both ran for more than 100 yards as Ohio totaled 281on the ground as a team. Rose-Burton added 71 through the air on 6-12 passing. St. Clairsville’s Drew Sefsick completed three passes for 19 yards. Reiman added 23 receiving yards while Oberdick led the team with 34. St. Clairsville’s Lucas Otto made three point-after kicks.

“We were able to really spread the ball out and get a lot of people involved,” McKenzie said. “I think in the second half, we wore (West Virginia) down. They weren’t flying around as much in the second half so I think our depth definitely helped us.”

Arlia completed seven of 18 pass attempts for 101 yards and two touchdowns for the Mountaineers. Nixon grinded out 50 yards on 22 carries. Yobaggy led the team with 49 receiving yards and a touchdown while Quering scored on an 11-yard strike.

Cunningham made an impact in all three phases, catching a 41-yard pass with three long kick returns and a sack on defense.

“He’s a tremendous football player,” said Kelley, his former coach at University. “He won the Fulton Walker Award as the best kick returner in the state and I think he showed it (Saturday).”

McKenzie said Saturday served as a great precursor for the high school football season in the Ohio Valley.

“I’m jacked up now to get that Friday night atmosphere,” he said. “I brought down some of our high school players just to get them excited. You can’t replicate this.”

GAME NOTES

— Indian Creek’s Jordan Hiles was named the Queen of Queens during a halftime ceremony. The runners-up were Kiera Reese (Edison), Faith Gerner (Buckeye Local), Savannah Cortopassi (St. Clairsville), Arielle Yost (Cameron) and Charlize Hadix (Shenandoah).

— The McDonald’s OVAC All-Star Band celebrated its 40th year Saturday with over 100 members putting on pregame and halftime shows. During the pregame, the band debuted a new original OVAC fight song called ‘Eyes and Ears’.

— This was the first time either head coach had been involved with the OVAC All-Star game and the first time a coach from the Morgantown area was chosen to represent West Virginia.

— West Virginia had won four out of the last six all-star games prior to Saturday, including the most recent game in 2021.

Ohio 33, West Virginia 15

OH 7 0 19 7 — 33

WV 9 6 0 0 — 15

OH — Reiman run 1 (Otto kick)

WV — Morgan kick 23

WV — Yobaggy pass 21 from Arlia (kick missed)

WV — Quering pass 11 from Arlia (run failed)

OH — Rose-Burton run 60 (Otto kick)

OH — Jordan run 6 (run failed)

OH — Reiman run 80 (pass failed)

OH — Bliss run 10 (Otto kick)

RUSHING: Ohio 32-281-5td (Reiman 7-138-2td, Rose-Burton 12-101-1td, Jordan 7-8-1td, Bliss 2-24-1td, Creamer 1-20, Kenworthy 2-0). West Virginia 36-(-9) (Nixon 22-50, Cross 3-10, Arlia 8-(-45), Martos 2-(-13), Conley 1-(-11)).

PASSING: Ohio 9-20 90 (Sefsick 3-8 19, Rose-Burton 6-12 71). West Virginia 7-18 101-2td (all Arlia).

RECEIVING: Ohio 7-101 (Reiman 2-23, Oberdick 2-34, Bliss 2-20, Jordan 1-16, Longwell 1-(-2), VanNest 1-(-1)). West Virginia 7-101-2td (Cunningham 1-42, Yobaggy 4-49-1td, Quering 1-11-1td, Baker 1-(-1)).

FIRST DOWNS: Ohio 11. West Virginia 7.

PENALTIES-YARDS: Ohio 9-90. West Virginia 15-92.

FUMBLES/LOST: Ohio 4/3. West Virginia 3/2.