North tops South in All-Star football thriller

MARQUETTE — For the first three and a half quarters of the U.P. All–Star football game on Saturday, it was boring. The crowd was dead and people were just waiting for it to be over. However, the final two minutes may have been the most exciting finish the players have ever been a part of.

With 11 seconds left in the game and tied at 21, Ishpeming’s Ozzy Corp found Negaunee’s Dylan Tasson for the game–winning touchdown. Corp was named offensive team MVP, but he gave the award to Tasson, who appreciated the kind gesture.

“We go back pretty deep. We’ve been good friends for years. We’ve always fantasized about playing on the same team. We finally had the chance and it really pulled through,” Tasson said.

Afterwards the team talked about the experiences they had during the week, which included some off–the–field activities.

“The trip that we have to Bay Cliff, you see the kids really gel after that and I think they took a lot of things into perspective. Hats off to Todd for making that experience possible for those kids because they take a lot of things for granted and then they see those kids with special needs and I think it puts it into perspective for them,” said North head coach Fred Bryant.

“We wanted to go out on top so we busted all week in practice. We made sure to have fun every day doing it. And all the stuff we got to do this week with Bay Cliff and everything was really an experience for all of us. It was a good week, period,” Tasson said.

This was the second year the game moved to a North–South format with the North winning both games.