Staff photo / Neel Madhavan
Boardman’s Anthony Hightower makes a move past Niles’ Kolton Christopher after making a catch Thursday night during the 36th annual Jack Arvin All-Star Classic.
HUBBARD — Knowing what lies ahead of him, it was hard for Boardman standout Anthony Hightower to justify playing high school football one last time.
With his first year at Valparaiso coming up in the fall, Hightower wanted to stay healthy so that he could hit the ground running when he arrived on campus in the coming months.
But in the end, the opportunity to suit up one last time at the high school level in Thursday’s Jack Arvin Classic at Hubbard Memorial Stadium was one Hightower couldn’t turn down.
“It meant a lot to get picked,” Hightower said. “I just wanted to get back out there on the field one more time in a high school atmosphere, just to see how I feel again. It was good to get back out there and see if I still got it.”
Playing both ways, Hightower made sure to make his impact felt on the game for the Mahoning County all-star team.
At cornerback, Hightower sacked Trumbull quarterback and Mathews product Isaiah Munno, forcing a fumble, which was picked up and returned by Fitch’s Tyree Mitchell for a Mahoning touchdown that tied the game before halftime.
On offense, Hightower caught a pair of deep passes from Mahoning quarterback and Crestview standout Anthony Cusick, including a spectacular jump ball on a 30-yard touchdown catch in the third quarter.
With the Jack Arvin Classic and Boardman’s track and field season now in the rearview mirror after last weekend’s state track meet, Hightower can now focus on looking forward to Valparaiso, where he’ll play football and continue to run track.
Hightower said the Beacons’ football coaches first reached out to him at the beginning of his senior season this past fall. From there, he built a relationship with the coaching staff and then went on his official visit. After that, it was an obvious decision.
“I knew that’s where I wanted to be,” Hightower said.
However, the opportunity to be a dual-sport athlete and run track as well didn’t come till later.
“The track coach reached out to me through email and we talked about it and then I decided to be doing both football and track,” Hightower said. “I got the opportunity to run track and play football — do two things that I love. So I just went out and made the best of my opportunities.”
Football is Hightower’s primary sport and he’ll continue to play cornerback and receiver for the Beacons like he did for the Spartans.
But running track will help him continue to stay in football shape during the offseason, like it did while he was at Boardman.
“I use track to stay in shape and build my speed for football,” Hightower said. “When you play at the Division I level, there’s a lot of fast people. I know I’m a shorter guy, so I have to provide something that the tall people don’t, so I just use my speed and continue to get faster.”
