Harrison’s Molloy Competes In All-Star Game

Every summer, the best college-bound football players from the Northeast face off in the New Jersey-Northeast All-Star Challenge at Rutgers University.

In the past the game has featured several future college and pro stars like David Tyree, Ray Rice and Knowshawn Moreno and this year's contest was expected to be no different.

The game was played on Sunday and featured players destined for colleges ranging from Florida University, Penn State University and Miami University to some of the finest academic institutions in the country such as Harvard University. 

Harrison High School was also represented by Buffalo-bound senior Jack Molloy.

Molloy spent the last few years as the special team's ace for the Harrison football team. He signed a letter of intend to play football for Buffalo this winter.

The kicker was asked to play in this game, and though he didn't factor greatly in the outcome, he still felt the experience was beneficial.

The game was a defensive battle that the New Jersey team won 13-7. The Northeast team couldn't get anything done offensively, but did catch a break when Florida-bound Adrian Coxson ran a ninety-nine yard punt return for a touchdown. Harrison's Molloy then booted through the extra point.

During the week, the teammates all bunked together in rooms in the Piscataway Raddison and Molloy and his teammates found ways to entertain themselves in their spare time.

"We played a lot of Madden," said Molloy. "We also ran around the floor a lot too, it was a good way to get to know all of the players in the game on both teams."

Practices tended to be a mixture of both business and pleasure, as the coaches would try to teach the young men. During the week the young athletes attempted to alleviate the stress by entertaining one another by quoting their favorite movies.

"It was a mixture of goofing around and getting down to business," said Molloy. "The coaches were yelling at everyone, trying to get us motivated to beat New Jersey. But at the same time we were still having fun and enjoying ourselves."

Molloy said that he got to know a lot of the other players during the course of the week.

"Even after practice we all really became friends, though no one really knew each other's real names except the nicknames," said Molloy.

By playing in this game Molloy got the opportunity to meet some of his future teammates as well as future rivals. Kristjan Sokoli played as a defensive end for the New Jersey team and will be Molloy's teammate next year at Buffalo.

"I knew of him coming into the game," said Molloy. "He looks like a really good player and I am glad he'll be on my team."

There were also players on the team who will be attending Temple University, Buffalo's historic rival.

"The guys from Temple were really funny," said Molloy. "Honestly, I just see them as friends now but of course when we play I want to beat them."

Molloy didn't get the playing time he would have liked, but he made the best of his opportunities.  He made the only extra point he had and averaged 67 yards per kick-off.

"Overall it was a great week, I got to meet a lot of new friends," Molloy said. "The game didn't end the way we wanted it, but it doesn't really damper the great week we had. I exchanged cell phone numbers with the majority of the team so we are going to stay in touch over our college careers."

Though he didn't win the game, Molloy did a great job in the game and represented both Harrison and the University of Buffalo well.