On Tuesday morning, February 16th, Team Maryland announced their roster that will compete in the 58th annual Big 33 football classic in Hershey Park against Team Pennsylvania.
Headlining the list of participants are two ESPN 300 recruits, wide receiver Steven Smothers (Franklin, West Virginia commit) and linebacker Cameron Brown (Bullis School, Penn State commit); two future Big-10 corner backs, Damon Hayes (Rutgers) from Wise and Kareem Felder (Ohio State) from Franklin; a pair of Army West Point commits, Tyler Fleagle (Linganore) and William Huff (Meade); and two-time state champion quarterback from Northwest, Mark Pierce.
Some notable coaches for Team Maryland are 2013 and 2015 4A state champion, DaLawn Parrish (Wise); three-time defending IAC champion, Pat Cilento from Bullis School; 2007 state champion Dave Mencarini (Urbana, 120-26 career coaching record); and Quince Orchard’s John Kelley.
Both teams will roster 34 players, with Maryland having four being signed to play at Power-5 schools while Pennsylvania more than quadruple that mark, having 18 Power-5 signees.
Played since 1957 and billed the “Super Bowl of high school football”, the first all-star game played against the Mason-Dixon border states didn’t come until 1985. Eight games were then played until Maryland was replaced by Ohio. In October 2012, Pennsylvania announced it had dropped Ohio from the Big 33 game and replaced them with Maryland. Texas also made an appearance in the mid-1960’s.
Many heralded NFL players have taken part in the Big 33 classic such as hall of Fame inductee and Super Bowl champion quarterback, Joe Namath; Hall of Fame inductee and Super Bowl champion running back, Tony Dorsett; Hall of Fame inductee and four-time Super Bowl champion quarterback, Joe Montana; Hall of Fame inductee quarterback, Jim Kelly; Hall of Fame inductee and 1984 MVP quarterback, Dan Marino; Super Bowl champion wide receiver and 2015 Hall of Fame inductee, Marvin Harrison; Hall of Fame inductee running back, Curtis Martin; three-time Super Bowl champion corner back, Ty Law; Super Champion offensive lineman and 2015 Hall of Fame inductee, Orlando Pace; and Super Bowl champion quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger.
Pennsylvania holds a 9-2 all-time record over Maryland that includes a 20-3 victory just a year ago. The lone two Maryland wins came in 1991 and in 2014.
Maryland Sports Access will be providing full coverage of the 58th annual Big 33 football classic on Saturday, June 18th at 7:00 pm.
(Coaching staff and roster below)
Maryland coaching staff
DaLawn Parrish, Dr. Henry A. Wise Jr. High School
Pat Cilento, Bullis School
Dameon Powell, DuVal High School
Steve Rapp, Dr. Henry A. Wise Jr. High School
Ed Shields, Suitland High School
Dave Mencarini, Urbana High School
Chuck Oswald, Quince Orchard High School
John Kelley, Quince Orchard High School
Reggie White, Milford Mill Academy
Justin Carey, Atholton High School
Maryland Roster
Quarterback, Mark Pierce (Northwest High School, unsigned)
Quarterback, Shawn Bliss (Sherwood High School, unsigned)
Running back, C.J. Rainey (Dr. Henry A. Wise, Jr. High School, Howard University signee)
MSA Player of the Game presented by @Rehab2Perform:
CJ Rainey, 153 yards rushing & 5 TD's on 19 carries pic.twitter.com/x2c3iKiKoX
— Maryland Sports (@MDSportsAccess) December 5, 2015
Running back, Pete Boone (Old Mill High School, Moravian signee)
Slot/Halfback, Steven Smothers (Franklin High School, West Virginia University signee)
#WVUNSD Signee: WR Steven Smothers, 5-9, 154, Reisterstown, Md. | http://t.co/XokTtqCTvX #HailWV http://t.co/9DyHE67pKu
— WVU Football (@WVUfootball) February 3, 2016
Slot/Halfback, Michael Johnson (Owing Mills High School, West Virginia State University signee)
Slot/Halfback, Tre Hopkins (Oakland Mills High School, University of Albany signee)
Split end, Cortez Ervin (Seneca Valley High School, Old Dominion University signee)
Split end, Dana Jackson, Jr. (Milford Mill Academy, Fairmont State University signee)
Fairmont State's 6th signee of the 2016 class is WR Dana Jackson #Relentless #FalconFreak pic.twitter.com/3poTyavsLY
— Fairmont State (@_FalconFootball) February 3, 2016
Split end, Jadan Blue (Mt. St. Joseph, Duquesne University)
Center, Zeph Titus (Quince Orchard High School, Merrimack College signee)
Guard, Kevin Claxton (Dr. Henry A. Wise, Jr. High School, Cincinnati Christian University signee)
Guard, Tyler Fleagle (Linganore High School, Army West Point signee)
Congratulations to MSA Player of the Game recipient, Tyler Fleagle, on officially signing with @ArmyWP_Football! pic.twitter.com/I27F7LVuOx
— Maryland Sports (@MDSportsAccess) February 3, 2016
Guard, Gavin Clark (McDonogh, Towson University signee)
Tackle, Andrew Garnett (Riverdale Baptist, Towson University signee)
Tackle, Aaron Boston (Dr. Henry A. Wise, Jr. High School, unsigned)
Tackle, Cameron Chambers (Dr. Henry A. Wise, Jr. High School, Merrimack College signee)
Kicker/Punter, Mike Shinsky (McDonogh, unsigned)
Defensive tackle, Parker Reitz (Manchster Valley High School, Shippensburg University signee)
Defensive tackle, Larry Aaron (Oakland Mills High School, Marshall University signee)
The 6th newcomer to #TheHerd is DL Larry Aaron (6-5, 250) from Columbia, Md. #stampede16 #NSD2016
— Marshall Football (@HerdFB) February 3, 2016
Defensive end, John Daka (Dr. Henry A. Wise Pumas High School, James Madison University signee)
Check out Coach's take on LB @DudeThatsJohn – John Daka! #JMUSigningDay pic.twitter.com/Wrn0UoGhEm
— JMU Football (@JMUFootball) February 3, 2016
Defensive end, William Huff (Meade High School, Army West Point signee)
Defensive end, Sean Green (Quince Orchard High School, Merrimack College signee)
Linebacker, Cameron Brown (Bullis School, Penn State University signee)
#LinebackerU welcomes Cameron Brown to the blue and white tradition of excellence. #PSUSigningDay pic.twitter.com/ct37qiCPoi
— Penn State Football (@PennStateFball) February 3, 2016
Linebacker, Aaron Parker (Gwynn Park High School, Eastern Michigan University signee)
Linebacker, Brandon Hlavach (Eastern Tech High School, Shepherd University)
Welcome to the Family Brandon Hlavach LB/RB (Eastern Tech – MD) Ram Nation just got better!http://t.co/6gQFwCDfWa pic.twitter.com/35VZ1srzEC
— Shepherd Football (@ShepherdRamsFB) February 3, 2016
Linebacker, Jordan Hill (Paint Branch High School, Harvard University signee)
Linebacker, DeMarco Seay (DuVal High School, Bowie State University signee)
Corner back, Damon Hayes (Dr. Henry A. Wise, Jr. High School, Rutgers University signee)
Welcome Damon Hayes! #RFootball #NSD #AshEra pic.twitter.com/gFDngugAsF
— Rutgers Football (@RFootball) February 3, 2016
Corner back, Kareem Felder (Franklin High School, Ohio State University signee)
.@markpantoni @K1ngWolf_ Planting flags in MD! #NSD2016 #GoBucks
🏈🖊: http://t.co/8t7JjML5hB pic.twitter.com/jNZqyzdqZh
— Ohio State Buckeyes (@OhioStAthletics) February 3, 2016
Corner back, Manny Patterson (Mount St. Joseph’s, University of Maine signee)
Corner back, Tevin Singleton (Suitland High School, unsigned)
Corner back, Mike Clark (Dr. Henry A. Wise, Jr. High School, unsigned)
Corner back, Martin Foray (Northwest High School, unsigned)
Northwest's only score thus far came off of Martin Foray's 92 yard kick return. NW is down, 23-8 at the half. pic.twitter.com/YrfXNOdP7i
— Kyle McFadden (@k_fadd) November 28, 2015
This is an absolute joke, the people appointed to make this list were biased and completely unfair. By biased I am speaking about Coach Mac especially from Urbana high school.
Maryland beat PA in the 1987 Big 33 game. I believe the final score was 26-22.