Trenton set to have 10 players in Sunshine Football Classic
HOPEWELL TWP. » When the West team suits up for Friday night’s Sunshine Football Classic at TCNJ, expect to see plenty of black and red.
Trenton has 10 players in the 22nd annual charity event, which is sponsored by Fisher Capital LLC.
The top All-Star from the Tornadoes is Ji’Ayir Brown, one of three from Mercer County to also participate in Monday night’s Phil Simms North-South All-Star Football Classic at Kean University.
Brown played defensive back and earned defensive MVP honors with two interceptions. The versatile 6-foot-1, 190-pounder is listed as a wide receiver for Friday’s exhibition.
“He does all things on the football field, so what he does on the football field, nobody is surprised. We expect a lot from him,” said teammate Jaquae Alfred, who added that Brown is still undecided as far as college football. “It’s really whatever he chooses to do. He’s a D1 athlete all-around. No matter what position you put him at, he can go D1.”
Alfred, a defensive back who will play at Lincoln University in the fall, is joined by fellow Trenton seniors Donovan Ford, Francisco Pastrana, Naze Washington, Malcolm Milton, Prince Jones, Bill Hackett, Emmanual Hill and Rayshawn Alstell.
“We’ve really got all our key players here, so it’s good to play together one last time before we go our separate ways,” Alfred said. “Anything for charity is good. Coach told us it’s a charity event, so a chance for us to play together and help charity is easy to play for.”
The game has provided more than $115,000 to the Sunshine Foundation and awarded $56,000 in scholarships to the Scholar-Leader-Athlete dinner sponsored by the Del Val Chapter of the National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame.
Players from Mercer, Burlington and Hunterdon counties represent the East and West teams. Nottingham (East) has the most participants with 11, while Steinert (East) and North Hunterdon (West) each have nine. Each roster has 43 total players.
Since last Thursday, the teams have practiced in the evening at Hightstown (East) and Hopewell Valley (West).
According to Princeton’s Charlie Gallagher, who is the offensive coordinator for the West team, the local coaches volunteer their best seniors.
“It’s really up to each coach and who they think the All-Star guys are, and then what happens is it goes to the Sunshine Committee who’s headed by Jack Dunn, and then they look at all the selections,” Gallagher said. “You’ve got to write down a whole list of criteria for the guys, so the idea is, ‘What kind of All-Star was he? Was he an All-Conference player? Was he a Second-Team guy? Was he all-NJ.com?’ Or whatever it might be.”
Because of the schools recently holding graduation on various nights, Tuesday’s practice was the first without any conflicts for the West team, although Brown was not yet in attendance.
Gallagher planned to install some trick plays Tuesday during a 10-to-15 minute session in the two-hour practice, but overall, the playbook is simplified because of the short time to prepare.
The dynamic is not as challenging as one might think given the amount of experienced varsity players.
“The coaches are doing their job real good,” Alfred said. “They’re making sure everybody is putting it together and getting to know each other. When you’ve got high-level athletes, it’s easy to adapt.”
Added Gallagher: “Some of these guys have been playing for maybe four years, so for these guys this is another day of work.”