by By JEFF FALK Daily News Sportswriter Lebanon Daily News , The Lebanon Daily News

Last night at Hersheypark Stadium, Lebanon's James Capello made the most of his football rite of passage during the 52nd edition of the country's most storied senior all-star game. A star quarterback who graduated 16 days earlier with the LHS Class of 2009, Capello competed for a Pennsylvania squad which fell to Ohio 38-31 in a barnburner.

Pennsylvania still leads its all-time series with Ohio, 11-10.

The 6-2, 190-pound Capello, an Iowa State recruit, did not start and didn't play as much as West Catholic's Curtis Drake, who's headed to Penn State as a flanker. Running often out of Pennsylvania's spread offense, Drake set a Big 33 record with 284 total yards.

Pennsylvania had erased a 14-point fourth-quarter deficit and tied the game at 31 with 2:21 remaining on a one-yard sneak from Drake. But Ohio won it with 20 seconds left when lineman Adam Replogle scored on a one-yard plunge from out of the backfield.

"I'm a little disappointed I didn't get to show what I could do," said Capello. "I wish I had gotten a little more playing time. But there's nothing I can do about it. Now I just have to worry about my college team."

"Here everybody on the field is a Division One or One-AA athlete," said Lebanon head coach Gerry Yonchiuk. "This year (2008) we saw like six Division One recruits total, and some of them were our guys. The difference is speed here with the defensive linemen. Guys are extremely fast and some of them are future NFL players."

Capello appeared at quarterback on three of Pennsylvania's 14 offensive series. He finished the game 0-for-3 passing with one interception.

"It's certainly a lot different than high school," said Capello, "but nothing I can't handle. I got to see some different things. But it's not too much harder than I'm used to."

"It shows him how much faster the game is," said Yonchuik. "When he's at Iowa State, he's going to see that kind of speed. It's going to prepare him for the Big 12."

Some of the lessons Capello learned were that Division One college linemen are quicker than their scholastic counterparts, that there's less time to deliver the football and that sometimes it's OK to simply throw the ball away. Under steady pressure while he was in there, Capello scrambled for positive yards twice, while being sacked three times.

When given time to throw, Capello's balls were on target but well-defended.

"I definitely think I have to see the rush better," said Capello. "I saw a couple of blind sides (blitzes)."

"One of the times he had no chance, and another time he was trying to buy time with his feet," said Yonchiuk. "Probably the other time he could've dumped the ball.

"He'll have to get rid of it quicker on the next level," Yonchiuk continued."He won't be able to make as many plays with his feet. He's not that fast that he can make plays with his feet on this level. Sometimes you've got to live to play another down."

?The outcome of the game appeared to turn on consecutive plays in the middle of the third quarter.

?With the score deadlocked at 17, Pennsylvania was about to take its second lead of the game after driving to the Ohio one-yard line. But Drake fumbled away the snap and on the next play Ohio hit the Keystone State with a Big 33-record 99-yard pass play that gave the Buckeyes a 24-17 advantage.

?Pennsylvania had taken a 7-0 lead just 1:08 into the contest, after driving the opening kickoff 40 yards for a score. But the opening 12 minutes of play ended tied at seven.

?With all 43 Super Bowls featuring at least one Big 33 alum, the contest bills itself as 'The Super Bowl of High School Football ."

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