W.Va. FBs may help carry load in BACF game
By STEVE HEMMELGARN, shemmelgarn@newsandsentinel.comVINCENT — Fullbacks are almost a forgotten part of a lot of football teams’ offense anymore what with the advent of high-powered spread and passing offenses as opposed to the grind-it-out style, circa Woody Hayes’ era, when fullbacks were the dominant offensive force.
But Friday night at Warren Local High School in the 15th annual Ohio vs. West Virginia BACF Football Classic (7 p.m. kickoff), W.Va. fullbacks Richard Christy of Parkersburg Catholic and Joey Shafer of Parkersburg High School may get to play more of a major role — not only just as blocking backs, but ball-carriers and receivers as well.
Actually, the 5-foot-10, 180-pound Christy played both fullback and tailback in his Crusader grid career, finishing his time at PC last fall with 323 yards rushing on 71 carries and another 249 receiving yards (tops on the team) on 22 receptions for an 11.3 yards-per-catch average, making him a viable passing option for W.Va. quarterbacks Hunter Kehrer of Tyler Consolidated and Matt Houchin of Calhoun County.
Meanwhile, the 6-foot-1, 230-pound Shafer was an offensive and defensive line standout for the Big Reds until two or three games into last season when he was switched to fullback to team with record-setting PHS tailback Matt Lindamood. And Shafer didn’t disappoint, running for 242 yards on 43 carries in helping the Big Reds capture their second straight Class AAA state championship with a 13-1 record.
‘‘I’m pretty excited,’’ said Christy, the lone Catholic representative on the W.Va. squad, about playing in the BACF game. ‘‘I watched it the last two years, and wanted to play in it this year.’’
West Virginia has won the last three BACF contests and six of the last seven to take a 9-5 lead in the charity series, and Christy, although he lives in Ohio, ‘‘thinks’’ the 2008 Mountain State team ‘‘will be dominant again this year.’’
‘‘I like (playing) fullback — I like it a lot,’’ added Christy, who could too see some time on defense at linebacker, where last season at PC, he totaled 65 tackles, including 25 solos.
Christy is also playing in North-South game in Charleston next Saturday, June 21. But that’s probably the end of his football career as he’s headed to WVU this fall to major in business.
Shafer was having fun during a BACF practice water break with some good-natured kidding of Parkersburg South players, who are now his W.Va. teammates. ‘‘We’ve put that PHS-South stuff all behind us now and are having a good time,’’ said Shafer, bound for WVU to major in engineering.
In fact, Shafer said ‘‘it feels great honestly just to hit someone. I think all the guys are excited to hit someone again’’ after playing no football for the last six or seven months.
Shafer said one of the best things about the BACF game was meeting players he had known only as names before. ‘‘I had met some of them through extra-curricular activities,’’ he said. ‘‘But others that I had only heard about, to meet them and talk to them was a lot of fun.’’
If called upon to play defense Friday night, Shafer would probably line up at defensive end or outside linebacker, his high school positions, where he contributed 61 tackles, including 29 solo, to another superb Big Red season last fall. ‘‘I’m just waiting to see where they’ll put me; I’ll play anywhere,’’ said Shafer. ‘‘I’m just happy to be playing football again.’’
