Kaufmann the lone Crusader in uniform for Ohio
By MIKE MATHISON, sports editorWEST LIBERTY - As players hang around during the down time while practicing and being housed at West Liberty State College for Sunday's 63rd-annual Rudy Mumley Ohio Valley Athletic Conference All-Star Charity Classic, all of them are making new friendships.
Some have high school teammates also in pads, while others do not.
Catholic Central graduate Justin Kaufmann is the lone Crusader in uniform for Ohio, which have won 12 of the last 13 meetings.
Kickoff is set for 7:15 p.m. at Wheeling Island Stadium.
Central finished 8-2 and lost to Shadyside in the first round of the Division VI, Region 23 playoffs.
"I really wish more Central kids would have made it, but I didn't get to pick the team," Kaufmann said. "Chris Gale led the OVAC in touchdown catches, but he didn't get asked to play."
Like some of the guys spending the week at West Liberty, this will also be Kaufmann's last football game. He will head to Cleveland State to major either in business or nutrition.
"I started playing football when I was 9," he said. "I was slow, I was a stick and I didn't know what to do. I wasn't very good.
"By the time I was 10, I was pretty good because I actually knew how to play. I probably got a little peer pressure back then to play football.
"I was playing another sport at the time."
Kaufmann, like all the players in camp, said it is good to get back in the pads.
"It feels good, other than the heat," he said. "It brings back a lot of memories."
The Ohio squad is being coached by the Buckeye Trail coaching staff, led by head coach Randy Thompson.
"They're keeping it basic for us," Kaufmann said.
"There's a lot of down time around here. We play a lot of cards to pass the time."
(Mathison can be contacted at mmathison@heraldstaronline.com)
