There wasn't much offense, but the 43rd annual McDonald's All-Star Football Classic still provided a punch, literally, for fans last Thursday night at Nazareth's Andrew Leh Stadium.

A late game skirmish between both sides, led to the most exciting action on the night, as the Gold team knocked off the Red team 13-8.

A fumble late in the contest, which was recovered by the Red team and brought to the Gold 6-yard line, appeared to give the Red an opportunity to come away with a clinching fourth-quarter score, but the fumble was negated by an illegal defense penalty to secure the win for the players from Northampton County, Phillipsburg and Palisades.

Freedom running back Christian Negron was the ball carrier that fumbled late in the fourth on the play that was negated, which eventually led to jaw-barking and shoving between players and coaches from both sides.

"I ran the ball to the outside and lowered my shoulder and when I got up, one of the defenders tried to grab my legs," said Negron. "I just pushed him a little bit and it just got nuts from there."

Things didn't really get nuts, more of the testy nature, as the lines of confrontation from both schools lasted temporarily, but it was fitting to have tempers flare in a defensive-driven contest that had points come rarely.

The Red team [Lehigh, Carbon and Monroe Counties] earned a first quarter safety to take a 2-0 lead into the second quarter. Phillipsburg's Alex Martin out the Gold in front with a 37-yard touchdown run with just over seven minutes remaining in the half. The lead jumped to 13-2, starting with a Dylan Brown (Liberty) punt block that put the Gold at the Red's 31-yard line.

Wilson quarterback Ryan Dailey hooked up with Nazareth's Anthony Gaetaniello for a 31-yard TD strike with 30 seconds before halftime to give the Gold a commanding lead and momentum.

The Red team struggled all night to pass the ball, but got a three-yard scoring run by Northern Lehigh quarterback Dan Marsh with 6:48 left in the third to cut the lead to 13-8.

That was the extent of the scoring action on the night, except for the Negron fumble that could have put the Red in scoring position.

Nonetheless, it was a night to remember for many players, some of whom that are going to continue playing football in college and some that put on the pads for one last time.

"It's awesome to get the last win in probably the last football game I'm going to play in," said Northampton wide receiver Kyle George. "It was a great feeling to come together and win. We didn't really think this was going to be a low scoring game, but we also knew our defense had some big boys and that it was going to be tough for them [Red team] to get things going."

Whitehall's Aaron Genevese was on the losing end of last week's action, but he'll continue his playing days at Shippensburg.

"It's not really about winning or losing," said Genevese. "We all want to win, but this game is for a good cause. It's really cool to bring a bunch of guys together from different schools and play. I really feel like we've all become like a band of brothers."