Central Valley's Landon Alexander looks forward to Big 33 Football Classic opportunity
Landon Alexander has often felt the need to prove himself.
Despite a senior season in which the Central Valley High School running back finished first in the WPIAL with 2,397 rushing yards and second in total touchdowns with 33, he didn’t land his second Division I offer until early December. The 6-foot, 190-pound star committed to FCS Albany later that same month with a mission to show the college football world that they “missed on one.”
This time, after having to wait almost three extra weeks to be selected to play in the Big 33 Football Classic, he has a similar goal in mind. After being named a replacement for the Team Pennsylvania roster in late March, Alexander will compete against Team Maryland in the 65th annual all-star game on Monday at Bishop McDevitt High School’s Rocco Ortenzio Stadium in Harrisburg.
“I didn’t take it any hard way,” said Alexander of not making the Big 33’s initial cut. “I just looked at it as, ‘OK, they selected me. So now let’s go show them that they made a good selection.’”
Central Valley head coach Mark Lyons knew it was only a matter of time before Alexander got the nod to play in the contest.
Lyons, who finished Year 12 as the Warriors’ head coach last season, is a co-chair of the finance committee for the Pennsylvania Scholastic Football Coaches Association, a group of head coaches from around the state that works to select players for the Team Pennsylvania roster. Though LaSalle College High School’s Sam Brown and Mt. Lebanon High School’s Alex Tecza were chosen ahead of Alexander at his position, Alexander wasn’t far behind as the PSFCA’s third choice.
So when Brown chose to enroll early at Rutgers and skip the Big 33, the Central Valley all-state running back got the late call.
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Lyons understood Alexander’s disappointment when Team Pennsylvania’s roster was released in early March without his name listed. But, even though Lyons knew Alexander had a “great shot” of being added down the road if an early enrollment or injury forced either Brown or Tecza to opt out of the game, he couldn't share that information with his star.
“He stayed patient,” Lyons said. “He had enough support around him to kind of just let this play out. And fortunately enough, it played out in his favor.”
While Lyons wanted to see Alexander chosen from the get-go, he had to “respect” the PSFCA’s process. Still, he acknowledges that the selection process is, of course, subjective and certainly “not 100 percent perfect.”
He continued to remind Alexander that not receiving a Big 33 invite didn’t mean he lacked the talent or the résumé to be considered one of the state’s best players.
“They’re only taking two running backs in the whole state,” Lyons said. “Someone out there is going to probably get snubbed and be on the outside looking in. And that was Landon early on. But we all knew he was good enough to make the game.”
No matter when he was picked, Alexander hasn’t lost sight of the magnitude of the honor. He is the only player from the Beaver County Times’ coverage area set to compete in the contest.
All 56 Super Bowls in NFL history have featured at least one Big 33 alum. Football legends who have played in the contest include Joe Namath, Tony Dorsett, Joe Montana, Jimbo Covert, Ty Law and Ben Roethlisberger, among others.
“The historical background of it is just so huge,” Alexander said. “So when I got the call that I was able to play in it, it was definitely amazing. It was definitely an honor, for sure.”
Contact Parth Upadhyaya at pupadhyaya@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @pupadhyaya_.
This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Central Valley's Alexander looks forward to Big 33 Football Classic
