Gendron helps other athletes experience thrill of All-Star Football game
Gendron helps other athletes experience thrill of Monroe County All-Star football contest
Just a few days after helping Jefferson to a state baseball championship, Jason Gendron was strapping on football pads.
It was far too quick to make such a radical transition of sports.
Even as a teenager, Gendron probably knew that.
But he didn’t care.
He wanted to delay the inevitable and keep his high school athletic career going a little while longer.
Gendron has some vivid memories of the Monroe County High School All-Star Football Game in 2002 including the athletic brilliance of Dundee’s Dan Fugate and getting to know some guys from St. Mary Catholic Central who had been his bitter rivals in high school.
It was the camaraderie that mattered most.
“It was one last shot,” he said. “What I remember most was a group of guys coming together for a common goal. It was neat that football brought us all together. That’s what it was all about.”
Gendron will help another group of athletes experience that Friday night.
Gendron, the new varsity coach at Gibraltar Carlson, will coach the West Team in the Monroe County All-Star Game at Airport.
Dundee’s Steve Ayre will lead the East in the game that kicks off at 6 p.m.
What Gendron didn’t realize when he took the Carlson job in February was that Carlson had not participated in the All-Star football game in several years.
“One of our guys, Cody Britt, came to me and said, ‘Coach, what do you know about the All-Star Game?'” Gendron said. “I just smiled and said, ‘I know a lot about the game.’ … I played in it and my brothers both played in it. I am a Monroe County guy and a Jefferson guy. This is a special game.”
Gendron investigated and found out that hosts Jim and Tim Duffy from Airport still were looking for a coaching staff for the West.
“My entire staff was on board,” Gendron said. “Everyone from the ninth grade on up signed up.”
And Gendron got an impressive response from the Carlson players. There will be seven Marauders in the game, matching Monroe High. Those two schools will provide nearly half of the West roster.
“We have a lot of energy and a lot of enthusiasm,” Gendron said. “We’re fortunate to have about 30 guys and will try to equalize the playing time. We’ll use a platoon system. Each guy will only play one way. I asked everyone to pick a side of the ball.
“We have a lot of guys who are going on to play at the next level. For them, this will be a tune up. For others it will be a last shot.”
Four quarterbacks are expected to appear for the two teams in Friday’s game, but Jefferson’s Ryan Gennoe is the only one of the four who took snaps at that position last season.
Gennoe will split time with Monroe’s Tristin Panza.
“The last time I played a whole game (at quarterback) was probably fifth grade,” said Panza, who normally played slot receiver and safety at Monroe. “It will be fun. It will be the first time I’ve been on the throwing end of passes for a long time.”
And he is excited to be Gennoe’s teammate again. The two were together at Jefferson until Panza transferred to Monroe as a freshman.
“It will be awesome,” Panza said. “I’ve known him since I was little. Our dads coached together and are good friends.”
The West will have a lot more experience at quarterback than the East where Owen Sampson of Ida and Dundee’s Elek Lapalme will line up under center.
“I played some my freshman year on the JV team,” Sampson said. “I didn’t know we didn’t have any quarterbacks. I thought we would have some come out.”
He has more experience at QB than Lapalme.
“I have one snap at JV,” he said. “Other than that, the last time I played quarterback for a whole year was the fifth or sixth grade.”
But he and Sampson, who are good friends, both are great athletes.
“It should be fun,” he said. “I feel like our team is pretty solid. We have a lot of good running backs and wide receivers.”
Ayre likes what he has seen from the East squad.
“We have very talented kids who are working hard,” he said. “It’s fun to coach some kids who I coached against like Owen Sampson and Noah Bauman down at Whiteford. Almost half our team is from Ida.”
And Ayre, who completed his first season at Dundee last fall, is excited to be part of the game.
“Being from Lenawee County, I always thought the Monroe County game was cool,” he said. “It's one of the better run All-Star Games. It’s impressive to see how much football the guys come in knowing.”
Monroe County All-Star Football Game
WEST ROSTER
Jack Andrews, Whiteford
Noah Bauman, Whiteford
Colin McCloud, Bedford
Degan Garcia, Bedford
Owen Sampson, Ida
Ryan Johnston, Ida
Nick Hovest, Ida
Cameron Carner, Ida
Eliot Morrison, Ida
Austin Schafer, Ida
Dylan Czlapinski, Ida
Elek LaPalme, Dundee
Jimmy Dusa, Dundee
Zack Salenbien, Dundee
Jacob Prati, Summerfield
Deshaun Martin, Summerfield
Nathan Herrmann, Summerfield
Roman Iott, Summerfield
Bryce Gardiner, Erie Mason
Cooper Kinsey, Erie Mason
Gavin Larrow, Erie Mason
Blake Shipe, Erie Mason
EAST ROSTER
Nik Hammond, Airport
Evan Kemp, Airport
Brayden Moore, Airport
Aiden Robertson, Carlson
Robert MacAleese, Carlson
Cody Britt, Carlson
Braeden Lavis, Carlson
Alec Milley, Carlson
Avantae Robinson, Carlson
Derrick Szucs, Carlson
Tristin Panza, Monroe
Dane Marlow, Monroe
Landen Riggs, Monroe
Carson DeSeranno, Monroe
Ashton Elmer, Monroe
Kyle Kecskes, Monroe
Jonus Snavely, Monroe
Tayshaun Nichols, Monroe
Zachary Moosekian, Flat Rock
Zachary Kramer, Flat Rock
Brayden Williams, Flat Rock
Nico Bellino, SMCC
Garett Bergmooser, SMCC
Alfonso Leal, SMCC
Emiliano Sauceda, SMCC
Noah White, Jefferson
Ryan Gennoe, Jefferson
This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: All-Star Football game brings together Monroe County Region athletes
