NAZARETH Heading into Thursday's 44th Lehigh Valley All Star Football Classic, the Gold had won three straight games, and four of the last five.

When the game kicked off on Thursday, the Red Team (Lehigh, Carbon and Monroe counties) sent an early message that a reverse in that trend was in store.In a game that saw Red's quarterbacks Catasauqua's Zach Bradley and Pleasant Valley's Brandon Leap throw for nearly 600 yards, Red sprinted out to an early 28-0 lead early in the first quarter and would never look back on its way to a 55-21 victory over the Gold (Northampton, Palisades and Phillipsburg) at Nazareth High School's Andrew Leh Stadium."To be honest, it really means something to me," Northern Lehigh's Stephen Ingles said about the victory. "I'm going to be able to remember this for a very long time, especially since I was the only guy from Northern Lehigh."Leap completed six of eight passes for 290 yards and three scores while Bradley tallied 16 completions and four touchdowns for 295 yards.Leap and Ingles were two of 10 TIMES NEWS area selections in the McDonald's All Star Classic. The others were Lehighton's Nick Newton, Devonte Dash and Kyle Troch; Northwestern's Justin Betz and Mac Storm; Palmerton's Alec DeLong and Pleasant Valley's Chris Hower and Niko Huerta."Being around charismatic guys and being like, 'I want to listen to this guy' or 'I feel a bond building with this guy', was just something different since they were somebody from a different team," added Ingles.Gold cut Red's lead in half to 28-14 in large part to a rule that forced Red to kick off on all scores while holding a 10-point or more lead.But when the second half got underway, Red started the final 24 minutes just like the first with some explosive offensive plays.All four of Red's scores in the first half were passing touchdowns of at least 52 yards or more. It wasn't that same dynamic blow, but Bradley capped a five-play drive to open the third with a 17-yard score to Catasauqua's Paryss Marshall, his second touchdown of the game, to make it a 35-14. The duo hooked up on a 62-yard strike in the next series to increase the lead to 42-14.Gold responded after Phillipsburg's Tyler Troxel threw his second touchdown of the game a 55-yard strike to Nazareth's Max Wasilewski to make it a three-touchdown game.Pocono Mountain West's Amir Blair was responsible for the game's long rushing touchdown, coming with 11:42 to play that doubled-up Red's lead once again. In next Red series, Leap capped his day with a 72-yard strike to East Stroudsburg South's Zee Roberson to put Red over the half-century mark with 4:33 to play."They're all nice kids," Ingles said. "They were just like all of my other teammates back at Northern Lehigh and everything. It really makes you realize that the guys lining up across from you are just like you. They're the same kind of people."Despite only a week-and-a-half of practices, Red's chemistry was evident from the early going. It didn't hurt that the Bradley-to-Marshall combo was seen throughout the regular season on a consistent basis, too.Bradley found Marshall (five catches for 165 yards and three touchdowns) for their first score on Red's first drive, a 72-yard throw and catch up the left sideline not even four minutes into the game. Leap then found Roberson (four catches, 133 yards, two touchdowns) for a 52-yard catch-and-run touchdown and Eli Redmond on a 64-yard screen pass not even two minutes apart to make it 21-0 after the first.Leap then found Southern Lehigh's Jacob Del Priore (three catches, 133 yards, touchdown) for the game's longest score a 93-yard throw to put Red ahead 28-0."It's kind of surreal," Ingles said. "During the season, we had a losing record and it was a lot of heartbreak. And then coming out here in this thing, being with all your rivals and being able to cheer on the people usually you're not happy about scoring on the sidelines, it's a different atmosphere. At the same time, it's like putting the bow on the senior year."