HUNTER MEANS Wheeling Park

WHEELING – Being selected to play in the OVAC Rudy Mumley All-Star Football Game was something Hunter Means had been dreaming about since he was a little kid.

That dream came to reality last month when Cameron head coach Tim Brown, who will lead the W.Va. squad, selected the recent Wheeling Park graduate as an offensive lineman.

“I loved it,” Means said of being informed that he had made the team. “I kind of figured I’d make it, but you can never be 100 percent sure. I expected to be here. I definitely knew I was going to be healthy enough to be here. I’ve wanted to play in this game since I was a little kid. This has made my dream come to reality.”

The dream was almost shattered in his final game of his Patriots career. During a 51-39 loss to Huntington in the second round of the W.Va. Class AAAA playoffs, Means suffered a broken leg and was carted off the field at Wheeling Island Stadium before being transported to a local hospital.

“I remember my own teammate coming down the line of scrimmage and falling into me which broke my leg,” he recalled. “Unfortunately, that’s how my senior season ended. I was highly disappointed but I couldn’t fault my teammate because he was just doing his job. It was a freak accident.

“I couldn’t feel bad for myself, either, so I just kept working with my physical therapist – Adrian Moses. I want to give him a shout out. He’s the best in the Ohio Valley,” means added. “I continued to work with my trainers and eventually got myself back into shape midway through wrestling season.”

Means entered the Region I Tournament and finished fourth despite not competing all season. He went 1-2 at the state tournament.

“I wanted to be able to finish out my high school career the way I wanted to,” he added. “I didn’t place (at the state tournament) or win anything big, but I finished it my way. That meant more to me than anything else.”

Means was a three-year letterman in football and a four-year veteran in wrestling.

“I am very excited to be able to play another game on my home field.”