Warren Harding’s Nau’jeat Jones keys Trumbull County win over Mahoning in all-star game

MINERAL RIDGE — Warren Harding standout Nau’jeat Jones has enjoyed a week he will never forget.

Just last weekend, Jones captured two places at the Division I State Track and Field Championships, finishing seventh in the Division I high jump at 6-5 and eighth in long jump at 21-8.25 inches.

Fast forward to Thursday night, just five days after the state meet, and Jones led Trumbull County to a 10-7 win over the rival Columbiana-Mahoning team in the 38th annual Jack Arvin All-Star Football Classic played before 2,000 fans at Mineral Ridge’s Joe Lane Stadium.

Jones, the Raiders’ speed-laden wide receiver, grabbed a game-high six passes for 125 yards, including what turned out to be the game-winning touchdown in the third quarter.

For his outstanding performance, Jones was named the game’s MVP.

Jones’ winning catch occurred with Trumbull clinging to a 3-0 lead in the third quarter. Camped at Mahoning’s 38-yard line, Howland quarterback John Perry took the shotgun snap and arched a 38-yard scoring aerial to Jones in the right corner of the end zone.

“Coach looked at me and said, it’s your time, what are you going to do? — and I caught it,” said Jones. “It was kind of uncontested. It was best man wins, and I was the better man.”

“I’ll tell you what, he (Jones) is incredible,” said Trumbull head coach Brian Shaner of Mineral Ridge High School. “He’s a special talent. I knew at practice he was good and I saw in this game he was great. That kid, I don’t know how you cover him unless you double team him. We had other guys we were ready to go to but Nau’jeat just kept stepping up and had a really great game for us.”

Following the score, Warren Harding kicker Jake Daugherty, who had given Trumbull a 3-0 lead with a 35-yard second-quarter field goal, split the uprights on the PAT boot as Trumbull took a 10-0 advantage with 7:56 left in the third quarter.

“It (the win) means everything,” added Jones.

Austintown Fitch running back DJ Edwards scored for Mahoning County

Mahoning answered Trumbull’s score on its ensuing possession, as Austintown Fitch running back DJ Edwards, who finished with 85 yards rushing for the game, took a handoff, cut to the outside and scored on a 60-yard touchdown run. Crestview kicker Joey Carr split the uprights on the PAT boot and Columbiana-Mahoning closed the deficit to 10-7 with 5:06 left in the third quarter.

“It was two good programs, two good coaches and on both sides of the ball the guys played hard,” said Columbiana-Mahoning head coach Nathan Brode of Jackson-Milton High School. “It was a hard-nosed game and unfortunately we didn’t come out with enough points offensively.”

Trumbull’s defense sealed the deal in the fourth quarter with two stops of Columbiana-Mahoning drives which ended at Trumbull’s 38 and 42 yard lines, respectively, with the latter occurring with just 2:04 left.

“Incredible, again,” beamed Shaner of his team’s key defensive stops in the fourth quarter. “I can’t say enough for small-school football. They lined up against the big dogs from Mahoning and went toe-to-toe with them. I love that about small-school football and I’m glad they went out and represented us the way they did.”

Trumbull got the ball back following the last defensive stop and ran out the clock for the win.

“You play this game for the love of the game,” said Shaner. “This game, yes you want to win it, but it’s about going out one last time with guys you’ve never played with and our guys bought into that. They represented small schools very well and I told them I was very proud and honored to be these guys’ last head coach of their high school careers.”

“We had a common interest tonight and that was to play hard and give Trumbull our best shot and I think these guys did that,” closed Brode.

Game notebook

• The two teams split their previous two meetings, with Trumbull winning the game in 2022 and the Columbiana-Mahoning team capturing last year’s game by a 24-0 final at Dove Field in Canfield.
• The Mahoning Valley Coaches Association and ScoutingOhio.com sponsored the game.
• Ron DeJulio once again served as the Director of the Jack Arvin All-Star Football Classic.
• Anthony Carter, the star running from Struthers High School, is the recipient of this year’s Mahoning Valley Coaches Association Player of Year Award and with it, a $500 scholarship, sponsored by Dominic Prologo of Austintown Financial.

Box score

TRUMBULL 10, COLUMBIANA-MAHONING 7

Trumbull 0 3 7 0 — 10

Mahoning 0 0 7 0 — 7

SCORING

T — Jake Daugherty, 35 field goal, 8:35 2nd

T — Nau’jeat Jones, 38 pass from John Perry, 7:56 3rd (Jake Daugherty kick)

M — DJ Williams, 60 run, 5:06 3rd (Joey Carr kick)