When the 64th annual Rudy Mumley OVAC All-Star Charity Football Classic takes the field on Sunday, July 26th at Wheeling Island Stadium, Beallsville head coach Dave Caldwell will be in charge of the Buckeyes for the fifth time.

However, this year's selection process has been one of the most difficult.

And that's not necessarily because the talent is any greater than in his four previous appearances.

"It's a tough process," Caldwell said of assembling the 33 best football players in the Buckeye State. "We've had some kids drop out due to various reasons in the past, but never have we had to replace as many players as we have had to this year."

Despite the roster turnover, Caldwell and his trusted Blue Devil staff feels it's assembled a quality group of players who will report to camp at West Liberty State College on Sunday, July 19th.

"I don't know a lot about the kids, but we feel we're going to be a talented team which is going to be able to do the job," Caldwell said. "We tried to represent as many schools as possible and in the meantime tried to balance out the roster as best we could."

The Ohio side of the river - like West Virginia - had several teams make deep runs into the postseason and when you do that good players usually play a role and Caldwell didn't hesitate to represent those squads.

"You'd be foolish if you didn't take as many kids from the good programs as you can," Caldwell said. "We think we did a good job of selecting kids who came from teams which had good records."

All told, the Ohio squad features players from 20 different schools.

Leading the way with three selections each are: Steubenville, Martins Ferry, Union Local and River.

The Big Red - which played for the Division IV state championship last December in Canton - feature three recent alumni in the annual summer classic. Brandon Carroll, Jeryl Christian and Ryan Dugan will all wear the Block S on their helmet once more.

Martins Ferry - rattled off a 9-1 regular season, won the OVAC Class 3-A title and advanced to the Region 15 title game before falling - has a notable trio taking part in the game. All-Ohioan Jeremy Murray leads the way. He's joined by linebacking aces Steve Woodford and Matt Shreve.

Union Local - which lost just twice and both came to Martins Ferry - featured one of the most electric offenses around this past season. Quarterback Jordan Barbina - who was a first-team all-Ohioan - was a key cog in that success and will be one of the players for the Buckeyes. He'll be joined by wide receiver Kyle Blackman and versatile line player Bo Olexo.

River put together a perfect regular season, winning the OVAC Class 2-A title and finishing as Region 23 runnerup last fall. The Pilots were a senior dominated group and got three bids to the all-star game. Two-time first-team all-Ohio and two-time state shot put champion D.J. Duke will be one of the forces on the interior for the Buckeyes.

He'll be joined in camp for the Buckeyes by Jordan Clegg and Tyler Brooks.

Caldwell took two of his own players with him off a Blue Devils' squad which advanced to the Region 23 playoffs and finished second in the OVAC. Muskingum College recruits Eric Lucas and George Ruckman will play for their head coach once more before heading to college.

St. Clairsville qualified for the Division IV playoffs this past season and the Red Devils will have two representatives in the game. Zane Butler and highly-touted running back Brody Call will take part.

Cambridge got a pair of players into the game. Rick Goodrich's Bobcats finished 4-6 in the regular season. Taylor Leppla and Nick Liptak will take part.

Monroe Central - which was one of the hottest teams around at the end of the season and came up just shy of qualifying for the Division V playoffs - has two of its players taking part. Mikey Habig and Schuyler Bondy were the chosen Seminoles.

Harrison Central's backfield tandem of Wes Skinner and Taylor Banks will take part in the game and could provide versatility. Both were also defensive standouts for Coach Justin Kropka's squad.

The remainder of the Ohio squad consists of: Jason Behan (East Liverpool); Nick Bickar (Edison); Pat Gerest (Caldwell); Anthony Hocker (Bellaire); Johnny Merryman (Shadyside); Russell Paugh (Beaver Local); Brant Powell (Barnesville); Nathan Schaal (Buckeye Local); Anthony Scott (Zanesville); Brent Snider (Indian Creek) and Sean West (Bridgeport).