This item is making the rounds Tuesday ...
According to the Big 33 Scholarship Foundation home office, Ohio is out and Maryland is back in for the first time since 1992 as Pennsylvania's opponent in the annual Big 33 Football Classic.
The PA vs. Maryland series - a five-year deal - begins Saturday, June 15, 2013 in Hersheypark Stadium; it will be the 57th Big 33 game.
Adios, Ohio. Thanks for playing.
Your parting gift is a four-year winning streak to end the yearly summertime border rivalry.
PA played Ohio the last 20 years; they split, 10-10. Ohio won the overall series 13-12, including games played from 1972-76.
"The Big 33 is happy to welcome back Maryland to the PNC Big 33 Football Classic," Big 33 Schlarship Foundation executive director Dave Trimbur said in a press release.
"The competition, as well as the proximity to Hershey, PA, will allow this to continue to be the premier High School Football all-star game in America."
According to the release, this will be the ninth change in the Big 33 format, including national all-star teams, all-PA teams, plus teams from Maryland, Ohio and Texas coming to PA to play against the Keystone State all-stars.
There has never been a Super Bowl contested without a Big 33 alumnus on a roster.
I say bravo. The PA vs. Ohio game - even with the occasional Penn State vs. Ohio State recruit squaring off - was getting kind of stale.
And because of other all-star game commitments, Ohio - and PA for that matter - wasn't always sending its top-shelf, blue-chip, A1 players to Hershey.
There are a lot of all-star football games out there these days - including Ohio's popular North-South game - and for the last several years, top-shelf Ohio and PA players have knocked the Big 33 down a peg in order of importance.
Can't say right now if that will be the case with Maryland's top talent, but there's certainly nothing wrong with a little change. And with Maryland a little closer on the map, Hersheypark Stadium just might draw capacity crowds.
And that would be huge, because the Big 33 could use a jolt.
JEFF REINHART: jreinhart@pnco.com
ON TWITTER: @JeffReinhartPN