Touchdown club honors football football players past, present

Dec. 4—ASHTABULA — Football players young and older were honored on Sunday afternoon during the Ashtabula County Touchdown Club's 54th Annual Awards Dinner at Andrus Party Center.

The 2023 Ashtabula County Hall of Fame inductees included Richard Higley, of Ashtabula High School; Steve Mackey, of Conneaut High School; Keith Hawn of Edgewood High School; Ken Ankrom, of Geneva High School; Al Rubosky, of Grand Valley High School; Dale Theis, of Harbor High School; Bob Jones, of Jefferson High School; Jonathan Babic, of Lakeside High School; Kristofer Hudnall, of Pymatuning Valley High School and Mike Craffey, of Saint John High School.

Higley and Theis were honored posthumously.

Richard Higley's son, Nicholas accepted for his father and thanked all of his Ashtabula coaches.

"It is a real honor to join his fellow teammates," he said.

Stacy Rocco also accepted on behalf of her father, Theis. She said football was a big part of his life, including welcome diversions from his chemotherapy treatments when he was battling cancer.

Hawn thanked high school coach David Six for making a difference in his life.

"David Six was a real role model for me," he said.

Craffey urged those in attendance to stay involved in the sport.

"If you have a sport you love stay with it, become a coach or an official," he said.

Craffey has officiated for 30 years and learned so much about the game.

Jones thanked his parents for following him all over the country to watch his sporting activities in high school and college.

"It is an honor to represent Jefferson High School," he said.

Hudnall said his head coach Ken Parise urged his team to give 110 percent and he tried to make that a motto for life.

He said he was honored to have Parise coach him in football and Bob Hitchcock in basketball.

Rubosky said he truly does love football and talks about it all the time.

Ankrom said he was fortunate to play with some great players and coaches at Geneva that ended up undefeated and won league championships. He said family has been the most important aspect of his life.

Babic played football with his family's encouragement and had the opportunities to play at Ledgemont, Ashtabula and Lakeside.

Mackey also thanked his family and teammates for making the induction possible.

The high school athletes received recognition, which included the county teams already publicized in the Star Beacon and players of the year.

In addition, a wide variety of players were honored for their play this year and many received scholarships.

—Matt Wright, of Geneva, was presented with the Ashtabula County Touchdown Club Courageous Sports Award after he came back from a devastating injury to help lead the Eagles to a special season.

—Seth Enos, of Edgewood, won the Sean Allgood Award for his defensive efforts; Wyatt Payne, of Conneaut, earned the Matthew Hatchette Award for explosive offense and Tony Hall, of Edgewood, walked away with the Jarrod Bunch Award provided to the most talented player. These awards were presented by 440 and Goal.

—Conneuat High School graduate Rylan Davison, who plays at Mercyhurst, earned the Outstanding College Football Player Award presented by Gazette Newspapers.

—Three players, Jimmy Timonere, of Lakeside; Luke Funtash, of Jefferson and Robert Scott Edwards, of Conneaut all received $500 ATC scholarships.

—The $1,000 John D. Buskirk Memorial Scholarship was presented to Pymatuning Valley's Ben Crouser by Susan Stocker.

—The $1,000 Robert M. Herpy Memorial Scholarship was presented to Saint John's Hank Wagner by Herpy's widow, Susan Herpy.

—Edgewood's Nick Barger received the $1,500 East Ashtabula Educational Assistance Corporation Scholarship and Grand Valley's Kamden Cottrell the $1,500 Warren G. Andrews Memorial Scholarship.

—The final presentation of the evening was the prestigious Robert L. Wiese Memorial Scholarship to Geneva's Luke Smith. He thanked his family and the players and coaches that helped create memories to last a lifetime.