2007 Recap
Written by: Big 33 Staff on June 16, 2007.
As in years past, there was speculation coming into the Big 33 Football Classic that Ohio may not be sending their best 34 players to the annual Big 33 Football Classic due to the North-South game which is played on the same day. However, this was overshadowed by the fact that this year was the 50th Anniversary of the Big 33 Football Classic.
The big plays began on Ohio’s first drive with a third down conversion via a 48 yard bubble screen pass from Zac Collaros to BJ Cunningham. From there the Ohio offense was not able to gain much of anything as they settled for a 33 yard field goal from the strong right foot of Nick Spadafore. Following the blocked field goal attempt, the second quarter began with three consecutive runs by Liberty High School’s Dan Persa. After a late hit penalty and a short run, Persa was able to sneak his way through numerous tacklers and find the end zone for the game’s first touchdown.
After a few failed drives by both teams, Ohio quarterback Perci Garner fired a bullet over the middle to Wisconsin recruit, Kyle Jefferson for a 57 yard touchdown to bring the score to 10-7. On the following drive, after Persa completed passes of 21 and 23 to Derek Moye and Daryl Robinson respectively, he was able to finish off the drive with yet another scramble which eventually ended up in the end zone.
Persa continued his dominant play in the third quarter. After a muffed punt return by Anthony Wright, which was eventually recovered by Indiana bound Conwell, Persa scrambled around until he found an open Moye as he lofted a pass to him in the back of the end zone to bring the Pennsylvania lead to 11 points. Thus, Pennsylvania broke the tie and now leads the overall series 8-7.
