»RELATED: Friday night lights shine on All Stars one more time
“It’s really cool, especially when you come together and someone says I got this award in Division VII. I didn’t even know there were Division VII schools,” Trimble said following his North team’s 23-14 loss to the South at Centerville High School on Friday night. “It’s just good to meet new people from new teams and see what we didn’t get to face.”
Trimble got a taste of that during the 10 practices leading up to Friday’s game. The 6-foot-4, 280-pound offensive tackle tested himself against some of the area’s best. Two players who stood out the most were Northmont defensive end Ervin Besingi (6-1, 207) and Trotwood-Madison defensive end Devon Smith (6-0, 197).
“Being in the (Central Buckeye Conference) we didn’t face people exactly like that — stand-up, fast,” said Trimble, a first-team, All-CBC selection. “It was something new to go against a certain type of defensive end. The defensive end from Trotwood was very fast.
“It was a good reality check. Now I know I need to pick up my footwork and go a little faster. It was good. I could keep up, it was just something new.”
Trimble will play college football at Mount St. Joseph University in Cincinnati. He said the two weeks of practice was a good indication where his physical conditioning was before heading off to play for the Lions.
“It was good. You get your discipline back and after about two practices you’re good to go. It’s a good in-between point before you go to college ball and get back in shape a little bit,” he said. “Meeting new people was the best part. I didn’t know a lot of people when I came in. I met about 30 new kids and I’m glad to get the experience.”
Trimble was joined on the North team by fellow Springfield-area standouts Thomas Kavanagh and Cosmas Katanzaro of Catholic Central, Michael Guyer and Josh Nelson of Shawnee, Sam Allex of Cedarville and Dillon Hasford of Urbana.
There was some good-natured ribbing during the practices as the one-time rivals came together for their final high school game. Shawnee beat Tecumseh in the final regular-season game in 2016. Both Guyer and Nelson said they teased Trimble a few times to make sure he remembered.
“It’s all in good fun,” Trimble said. “Everybody that was on the (all-star) team we’re friends with. It was good to come together as a team.”
Central’s Katanzaro was also on the losing end against Shawnee, falling 82-7 to the Braves the first game of the season in 2013. Katanzaro, though, had the last word.
“We lose 82-7 and still got the win,” Katanzaro said of the game Shawnee later forfeited. “Still got the win.”
Katanzaro will play college football at Wittenberg University, along with Guyer and Nelson.
“It was a fun time. We became really close as a team and it couldn’t have been better,” Katanzaro said. “This was a great experience. We played our hearts out and came up short. If you get the chance to do it, you should do it. We had a great time.”
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