The Weir combination of Lucas McAllister to Damir Mowder lifted W.Va. to an improbable 15-14 victory Saturday night in the 79th OVAC Rudy Mumley All-Star Football Game at Wheeling Island Stadium.

After Ohio took a 14-7 lead with 36 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, McAllister rolled to his right on third down and let loose a 15-yard pass to Mowder crossing the field from left to right. The Red Rider receiver caught the ball and turned upfield. He crossed midfield before cutting back to his left, picking up key blocks along the way, before sprinting to the end zone with no time left on the clock for a 14-13 Ohio advantage.

“I just wanted to make up for everything I did wrong earlier in the game,” Mowder said of the scoring play. “I just wanted to get in the end zone and do it for my state. We finally shut them up. They were talking all week. Lucas and I have a special connection. We had it all season in high school.”

Not thinking twice about it, W.Va. head coach Tim Brown rolled the dice, going for a two point conversion instead of a tying extra-point, and overtime.

photo by: Nick Henthorn

“I’ve been making that decision my whole life,” he said of going for the win. “I told my kicker (Brooke’s Chase Hile) that I loved him, but we’re going to win the game.”

When asked if there was any way the two-point pass wasn’t going to Mowder, Brown replied, “probably not.”

“The first time I ever saw Damir he was in eighth grade playing basketball and he was dunking on people. He’s an athlete.”

McAllister was the only quarterback Brown and his Cameron staff selected for the game.

“He’s tougher than crap. He’s smart and he’s an amazing athlete,” Brown said of McAllister, who accounted for 185 of his team’s 196 total yards and figured in all the W.Va. scoring. “He did a great job of managing the game.

photo by: Nick Henthorn

“I wish I could say it was me, but it wasn’t. It’s what is in these guy’s hearts,” Brown continued. “These guys are all champions. All you have to do is remind them of that. These guys talk each other up. These guys pick each other up. My coaches did a great job of getting them to believe in themselves, but it was their hearts of champions that never allowed them to give up.

“Coming into this week with their talent, I wasn’t sure what the outcome would be,” Brown added. “But when I met these kids, I knew we had a shot.”

The “Wheeling Island Miracle” came moments after Steubenville’s Aiden Davis had given Ohio a 14-7 lead with a 20-yard TD strike to Monroe Central’s Chance Allen in the left corner of the end zone. Barnesville’s Evan Lough split the uprights for the second time in the game.

“It was my final football game where I started my career,” Davis said of playing at Wheeling Island Stadium, where he played his first three seasons for Wheeling Park. “It was electric there at the end … great game.”

McAllister said the connection between him and Mowder has been there since high school.

photo by: Nick Henthorn

“I knew if I got him the ball he would try and make a play,” McAllister said. “I got it to him and he did the rest. It was amazing.”

Ohio head coach Bernie Thopmson said he felt the touchdown play should have been reviewed.

“The last three seconds were pretty crazy, wasn’t it,” he said. “Give credit to both teams. They both played their tails off and nobody deserved to lose.

“I will say this. I never want to blame officiating, but the touchdown play needed to be looked at,” he stressed. “There was a hip toss. There was a facemask and a kid tackled another kid as the ballcarrier went by. I don’t know how all of that was missed, but I’ve got 33 guys in my locker room that busted their butts in representing Ohio, and I feel that last play didn’t do them justice.

“I appreciate everything the OVAC did for us all week.”

photo by: Nick Henthorn

Ohio took a 7-0 lead in the second quarter when Davis found Union Local’s Dre Saunders on a 6-yard scoring play. Lough’s PAT made it 7-0 with 5:54 left before the half.

An interception by John Marshall’s Hayden Gaiser late in the half kept the score 7-0 as Ohio was guilty of a fumble at the goalline earlier in the half.

West Virginia pulled even on the fifth play of the final quarter when McAllister scored on a 2-yard run over the right side of the line. Brooke’s Chase Hile made it 7-7 at the 10:06 mark.

Ohio had a chance to keep possession of the ball with just over three minutes left, but a fourth-down pass from St. Clairsville’s Brady Schafer to a wide-open Martins Ferry tight end Alex Reese was incomplete, turning the ball over to West Virginia.

However, East Liverpool’s D’Shawn Kirby came up with a huge tackle for minus-9 yards on third down to force a Hile punt.

photo by: Nick Henthorn

Saunders returned the kick 40 yards to the West Virginia 27 and St. Clairsville’s Dino Burk gained 11 yards on two carries to the 16. After a loss of four yards, Davis lofted the ball in the end zone where Allen caught it. Lough was true on his kick, setting up the last-second dramatics.

McAllister completed 6-of-11 passes for 130 yards and the touchdown. He also ran 14 times for 55 yards and six more points. Six different receivers caught one pass.

Ohio collected 148 yards on the ground, with Burk racking up 57 on 17 carries. Indian Creek’s Zion McGee had five carries for 47. Davis was 7-for-11 for 73 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. Saunders had four catches for 51 yards and a score, while Allen caught three passes for 35 and a TD.

Ohio now leads the all-time series 46-31-2, but West Virginia has won three of the last five and five of the last nine.