U.P. All-Star football game cancelled

MARQUETTE — The 13th U.P. Football All-Star Game scheduled for Aug. 1 has been cancelled because of the recent increase in COVID-19 cases regionally. The game had been pushed back from its original date of June 27 because of the current pandemic.
    West Iron County’s Brayden Nelson and Noah Thomson, along with coaches Mike Berutti and Chris Thomson were scheduled to participate, while Forest Park’s Evan Hedtke and Tommy Peltoma were slated to play as well.
“It saddens me that this year’s seniors will not be able to experience all of the different events that take place throughout All-Star Week,” organizer Todd Goldbeck said. “Each group of all-star players has spent their entire high school careers working hard to earn the awards and honors that will get them a chance to participate in this event.  Unfortunately, for these seniors, it is yet another rite of passage that they will not get to take part in.
     “Even though we held out hope as long as possible, cancelling was the right decision at this time. The safety and health of the players and coaches is always the highest priority, and when the number of cases started to rise recently, it became impossible to overcome. There was a very good chance that the game would have taken place, if the environment had not changed, and that would have been amazing. But we could not take the chance that anyone participating in this event, or any fan attending, would have their health put at risk.”
     The all-star game has been held annually in Marquette since 2008.