All-star games are meant to be fun and the players who participated in last week’s 46th annual McDonald’s Lehigh Valley All-Star Football Classic got to have one last night of glory on the gridiron, as the Gold team edged the Red squad 65-62 at Andrew Leh Stadium.

The Gold team, assembled with players from Northampton County, Phillipsburg and Palisades clearly overmatched their Red counterparts from Lehigh, Carbon and Monroe Counties, racing out to a 42-0 lead in the first half before the all-star rules kept putting the ball in the hands of the Red team.

They turned their 42-point deficit out of the gate into a 62-57 lead with 2:41 left in the fourth quarter before Liberty quarterback Doug Erney led the team on a 69-yard game-winning drive, capped off by a 13-yard TD pass to Easton’s Nysir Minney-Gratz with 1:07 to play.

Erney had the video game stat line of the night, as he was 17-for-32, for 412 yards and five touchdowns. He also ran for 50 yards on 14 carries and two scores to cap off a wonderful night before preparing to play quarterback at East Stroudsburg University this fall.

But one of the biggest plays of the night came on defense, as Freedom’s Cordell Cotto forced a fumble on Red team quarterback Blake Levengood (Southern Lehigh) with 25 seconds left to secure the win.

With Erney and Cotto playing as rivals during their times at Liberty and Freedom, the two teamed up for the first of many times, as they’ll both head to ESU.

“This was definitely a good experience playing with all these guys and with players from Freedom,” said Erney. “Cordell is going to be my teammate at ESU and we’re looking forward to doing great things there.”

Erney had a hand in each of the first four TD’s of the game, connecting on TD strikes of 80, 77 and 36 yards before running in for a three-yard score early in the second quarter.

Bethlehem Catholic’s Nate Stewart stole the show on the receiving end for the Gold team, as he caught seven passes for 269 yards and three touchdowns, with two of his scores coming from 98 and 80 yards.

However, with the all-star rules feeding the Red team the ball back after every score, they scored eight of the next nine touchdowns after falling behind 42-0, led by quarterbacks Tevon Weber and Blake Levengood.

Weber was 11-for-30, for 234 yards and four scores, while Levengood was 10-for-27, for 278 yards and three touchdowns. Levengood also added two rushing scores, but both quarterbacks combined for three interceptions and Cotto’s strip of Levengood late in the game proved to be the final nail in the coffin.

Whitehall’s Nick Kovalchick got in on the scoring as well, hauling in a 62-yard TD reception from Weber on his only catch of the night to start the fourth quarter for the Red team. That score brought the Red within 49-42 with 11:50 to go in the final quarter.

“I’m not playing in college, so I was really excited to play in one last game,” said Kovalchick. “It was good to play with guys from all over. It was a strange at first, but then you become friends and form relationships and that’s the biggest thing I took away from it.”

Northampton’s Devon Turner was part of the Gold team’s backfield, but didn’t see much action in the pass happy affair.

Still, he cherished the opportunity to go out with a win in his final high school game.

“I think it’s a great opportunity for myself to get back on the field and play a great game to end my high school career,” he said. “It’s a great charity event and an opportunity to play in front of a big crowd.”