Spanos All-Star game tradition continues

The tradition continues with the 18th annual Alex Spanos All-Star High School Football Classic, California’s longest running prep all-star football game with a continuous sponsor. The game matches graduated seniors in a North vs. South format at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Mt. Carmel High.

A key reason the Spanos Game continues to buck the declining trend of high school all-star football games -- largely because many scholarship-bound athletes don’t play for precautionary reasons -- is San Diego State-bound athletes such as Point Loma High’s Josh Wade continue to participate. Bonita Vista High tight end D.J. Shields is another SDSU recruit playing in the game.

Wade said he has looked forward to playing in the Spanos Classic as early as last year’s 17th annual Spanos Game.

“My coach (Mike Hastings) coached the South, and I had a lot of friends and teammates like Lester Arnold (now at Colorado State) that played in the game, and it looked like fun,” Wade said. “Lester is a running back, so if he didn’t worry about getting hurt, I knew I wanted to play in this game.”

Wade, a running back/cornerback at Point Loma, rushed for 1,146 yards with 13 touchdowns and intercepted three passes. He was a first-team All-CIF pick on defense and the Western League Offensive Player of the Year.

“Josh Wade is an excellent defensive back from right here at Point Loma,” SDSU head coach Chuck Long said. “He can run, has good height and is very smart. We are excited about his potential, and he will be a good player for us.”

The 5-foot-11, 175-pounder was recruited as a cornerback, and that will be his primary position in the Spanos Game.

But Wade said South coach John McFadden, Eastlake’s head coach, told him he will work him into the South’s offensive game plan.

Although he was recruited as a cornerback, Wade said the Aztecs coaches haven’t ruled out looking at him as a receiver. He also expects to see playing time on special teams, whether he plays as a true freshman or is a redshirt in 2008.

“I think San Diego State got a very good player that is going to help them,” Hastings said. “Josh needs to put on a little weight and get stronger, but he’s a talented football player that knows the game.”

Wade’s 175 pounds, though, belies his physical style of play.

“The run game is something I’ll have to work on in college, but I’m comfortable with bumping receivers,” Wade said. “You’ve got to give a receiver a bump and knock him off his pattern. I’m not about to let him run around.”

Just ask Mission Bay’s Dillion Baxter, a junior in the fall that has already orally committed to USC for the recruiting class of 2010.

When Point Loma routed Mission Bay 34-3 last year in a Western League game, the Pointers’ game plan was to have Wade bump Baxter so he couldn’t get off the line of scrimmage. When the Bucs shifted Baxter to the slot, safety Josh Canup -- who is also playing in the Spanos Game and considering walking-on at SDSU -- came up and bumped Baxter.

“We got real physical with him,” Wade said. “We didn’t want him running loose and getting free because he’s got all the shakes and footwork.”

The irony of Wade playing a more physical game than his size suggests is his mother wouldn’t let him play Pop Warner football for fear he would get hurt. Wade didn’t play football with pads until his freshman year at Point Loma.

His mother, Betty, apparently didn’t consider the other side of the coin that Josh might hurt the other players.

“I’ve got two older brothers,” Wade said, explaining his physical nature. “They used to throw me around and practice wrestling moves on me.”

Wade is a serious football player, but seeing something at last year’s Spanos Game that has him looking forward to the playing this year. He noted the Charger Girls make an annual appearance at the Spanos Game.

“I want to meet the cheerleaders,” he said mischievously.

What about the players? The Chargers always send a couple of players to serve as honorary captains.

“Oh, yeah, the players, too,” he said.

Contact Tom Shanahan at toms@sdhoc.com.