Late score lifts Team Different past Never Fear in NFBD all-star football game

By: William Whalen
Sunday, June 2, 2019 | 11:47 PM

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Touchdown celebrations mandatory, 18-minute running clocks and a dee jay set up on the sidelines — it was all fun and football at Cupples Stadium in the South Side Sunday night.

Seventy high school football standouts from across Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan played one final high school game.

With the score tied at 7-7 and 16 seconds remaining, North Penn quarterback Steve DePaul picked the right time to score the first running touchdown of his high school career. The Robert Morris recruit scored on a 5-yard keeper to lift Team Different to a 14-7 win over team Never Fear in the NFBD all-star football game.

“Coach (Ryan Linn) said, ‘Do you want to score on this play?’” DePaul said. “I said, ‘Sure.’ The crazy thing is that it’s my first rushing touchdown of my high school career. So, it was a great way to end my career and this new start at Robert Morris. I’m coming back to Pittsburgh.”

DePaul’s winning touchdown and Woodland Hills kicker Chuckie Hanchett’s extra point brought an end to a second half of football that was much more competitive than in the first.

“It was really good competition,” said Penn Hills standout Tank Smith, a St. Francis commit. “I came out after halftime, and I felt like the blood was running.”

Smith was one of 11 Penn Hills players on the Never Fear team. Smith did manage to rip off a 26-yard run in the first half but was held in check for much of the game.

“We were just getting after it, and I like the competition out here,” Smith said.

Team Never Fear came out of halftime trailing 7-0 before the dynamic Penn Hills duo of Hollis Mathis and Dante Cephas hooked up one final time. Mathis (William & Mary) found Cephas (Kent State) for a 14-yard touchdown pass to tie the game at 7-7 early in the fourth quarter.

“That’s momentus, I don’t know how many that is, but it has to be in the 100’s of touchdowns,” said Mathis, who had played with Cephas since the two were 7 years old. “It was good to get one more with one of my long-time friends. Hopefully, we get to see each other in the pros.”

Mathis finished the game 4 of 8 for 76 yards and one touchdown, and Cephas pulled in two catches for 58 yards. Mathis also hurdled two defenders for a 16-yard gain that put Never Fear into position to score.

“Hollis and I have had the connection since we were 7,” Cephas said. “I told him that I got you, and I’m here if you need me.”

Despite the exciting second half, the first half was more of a feeling out process. Both teams struggled to move the ball on offense as the defenses dominated play.

On Never Fear’s second possession, University Prep wide receiver turned cornerback for the game DeVaughn Mathis, picked off Hollis Mathis and returned it 33 yards for the pick-6 to give Team Different the early first-quarter lead at 7-0 after the Hanchett extra-point attempt.

“What I’ve been working on is baiting the quarterback,” said DeVaughn Mathis, an Edinboro recruit. “I make it seem like I’m not in my zone, that’s what he did and he overthrew it. After that, I took off and my teammates blocked for me. I almost got caught at the 1(-yard line), but I pushed it through.”

DePaul put together a strong second half and finished 6 of 13 for 63 yards. Team Different’s Demonte Martin, of Eastern York, led all receivers with 85 yards on four receptions. Avonworth’s Turner Grau, a YSU baseball commit, dazzled the crowd with a beautiful 36-yard over-the-shoulder catch down the left sideline in the first half to keep the chains moving for Never Fear.

“It just came down to that last series and Team Different got the advantage over us,” Smith said. “A lot of us haven’t played football since like November or December. That’s a long time without putting the pads on.”

William Whalen is a freelance writer.

Tags: Avonworth, Penn Hills, University Prep