Practices for Classic have been streamlined
Dieruff football coach Dave Lutte has been around Lehigh Valley scholastic football for decades.
Liberty boss Shawn Daignault has only been around local high school football for a few years.
But Lutte and Daignault have something in common — neither has coached in the McDonald’s Lehigh Valley All-Star Football Classic.
Both will get their chance in the 51st annual game set for 7:30 p.m. June 16 at Nazareth’s Andy Leh Stadium.
Lutte is coaching the Red team, featuring players from Lehigh, Carbon and Monroe counties. Daignault is in charge of the Gold squad, which features players from Northampton County as well as from Palisades and Phillipsburg.
After a series of recent all-star games, the Lehigh Valley game is the last one to salute the best senior players from the 2021 season. Other games included a first-ever Schuylkill League/ Colonial League All-Star Game on May 21, won 28-6 by the Schuylkill League, and the annual Pennsylvania State Football Coaches Association all-star games and the Big 33 Classic, all held over Memorial Day weekend.
Following a format used by other all-star games, the McDonald’s/Lehigh Valley Classic is using a streamlined practice schedule. Rather than get together for numerous practices over a two-week period, with graduations and other high school events often causing conflicts, the teams for this year’s game will only hold two lengthy practices and then each will have a walk-throughs a few nights before the game.
The first lengthy practice was held Sunday, and the next one is coming up this Sunday, and both Lutte and Daignault are already enjoying the experience.
“The kids are fantastic,” Lutte said. “Coaching in this game, you get to know the kids who you go against all year and they’re terrific, down-to-earth kids. It’s refreshing. When they called me and asked me to do this, I teared up a little bit because it’s a tremendous honor to represent the Lehigh Valley. We
have one of the best areas for football in the state of Pennsylvania. This is a hotbed for football.”
Lutte, whose Huskies went 3-6 last fall, is reserving judgement on the new practice schedule.
“It feels a little rushed right now,” he said on Sunday. “We’re going to be installing some stuff this afternoon and my biggest concern is they’re going to lose between this Sunday and next Sunday. We’re here, though, both days from 8:30 to 4 with lunch in the middle. We’ll have time for some chalk both days and also time to get out and practice.”
Daignault said he liked the shorter practice schedule.
“The coaches who have worked some of the other all-star games said it worked and I do kind of like it because I finished up the spring workouts with our own program and now I took this week off so I could focus more on this and we’ll get to where we need to get so the guys know the offense and the defense,” Daignault said.
Coming off a 1-9 season in his first year with the Hurricanes, Daignault is looking forward to the experience.
“Obviously, we’ve got a good group of kids and it’s a chance to get back to work with guys I worked with before at other places through different connections,” Daignault said. “It’s a nice changeup to get away from the stress of building your own program.”
The Gold assistants include Kyle Haas, the Bethlehem Catholic coach who Daignault worked with at both Moravian University and Northampton. In addition, he has Bangor coach Paul Reduzzi, Nick Artinger from Becahi and Dave Brown from Liberty.
The Red assistants include Dan Burns from Pocono Mountain East, Allentown Central Catholic assistant Rob Melosky, Travis Brett from Catasauqua and Lutte’s son, Mitch, who was on the Huskies staff last season.
“This a summertime tradition that a lot of people look forward to,” Lutte said. “People are always asking when’s the McDonald’s game? I see it as something that kicks off the football season. Some people look at it as the end of the football season, but in reality, when this game is over you have about six-week stretch and then you’re into practices for the next season. You’re into August and you’re ready to go. So, for me, it’s an end and a beginning.”
Lutte will have four Huskies playing for him one more time. That quartet includes Willie Middleton, Chris Sell, Xavier Rodriguez and Greg Soto.
Daignault nominated several of his Liberty players to participate in the game, but due to various conflicts he doesn’t have any Hurricanes with him on Gold team. He does have Ethan Schweitzer, a two-way lineman from Northampton, where he coached from 2018-2020. He’s also excited to have Freedom’s Deante Crawford and Easton’s Marcus Williams in his backfield.
“We also have a lot of speed at the receiver position with kids from Notre Dame-Green Pond and Saucon,” he said. “In general, we have a lot of speed. We also have a talented line.”
Easton’s Cole Transue, Wilson’s Cayden Stem and Saucon Valley’s Dante Mahaffey are among the quarterbacks on the Gold roster, while East Stroudsburg South’s Bobby McClosky, Parkland’s Ty Tremba and Northern Lehigh’s Dylan Schmoyer are among the QBs for the Red.
“It should be a great game and we’re looking to pack the place,” Lutte said. “We just packed the place for the Nazareth Middle School Powder Puff game here on May 31 and we had a great crowd for a good cause even though it was the hottest night of the year. We’re looking to pack it again for another great cause.”