The end-of-year high school checklist for seniors normally includes attending the prom, taking final exams and preparing for graduation.

So how about adding a little football to end the month of May?

For the second straight year, that is what will happen at 4 p.m. today at Small Athletic Field. It's the East vs. West in a battle of the area's finest senior high school football players in the Senior All-Star Game.

"You certainly are hoping for a good showing for York County football," New Oxford head coach Matt Muller said.

Muller will coach the West squad, which features players from Biglerville, Bermudian Springs, Central York, Delone Catholic, Fairfield, Hanover, Littlestown, New Oxford, Spring Grove, South Western and West York.

Last year, Muller's squad won a lopsided affair, 58-6. The West team scored 21 points on just 12 plays in the game's first 13 minutes.

Muller isn't expecting a similar result today.

"No, ideally that wasn't what we expected last year. You want to show the talents of all the players on both sides," Muller said.

The West team try to repeat as all-star victors without Division II Player of the Year Brandon Real of West York.

The Bulldog scored 51 touchdowns and rushed for more than 2,500 yards before his season came to a screeching halt because of broken collarbone suffered during West York's run to the District 3 Class AAA title.

"Brandon's not going to play," Muller said. "It's unfortunate because he's a special

Advertisement
young man. The percentage of him re-injuring himself is pretty high, so we didn't want to do anything stupid."

Meanwhile, the East squad will be without the services of Jordan Davis, the William Penn quarterback who was voted one of three players of the year in Division I.

The East team -- consisting of players from Dover, William Penn, York Catholic, York Suburban, Northeastern, Eastern, York County Tech, Dallastown, Kennard-Dale, Red Lion and Susquehannock -- will be coached by Kennard-Dale's Doug Wilkinson.

"It's football, but it's different because of the time of the year," Wilkinson said. "There are a lot of other things going on with graduation, awards banquets, spring sports and senior year stuff. So it can be a little harder to get their focus."

The attention had to come quick for both teams, which had just seven practices to prepare for the game.

"We got a lot of work done in a relatively short time," Wilkinson said. "We're excited about our team."

The excitement will surely be there for all the athletes, some of which are going to be continuing their careers at the collegiate level.

However, for a lot of the players, today will be their last high school sports memory.

"We talked about that the other day that for most of you, this is going to be your last football game, so how can you not want to go out on a high note and have a great time," Muller said.