NEW WILMINGTON — BenCollins grinned.

"Cool," he said with a smile. "We're going to make the paper."

Collins has made the paper plenty of times over his four years as the SlipperyRock High School quarterback.

He got one more chance Saturday to take snaps and to throw passes as a member of the South team at the West Penn All-Star Football Classic.

His stat line was unspectacular: one pass attempt, zero completions, zero yards. His one pass intended for Rockets teammate David Hewitt sailed into double coverage and fell incomplete.

But he and SlipperyRock teammates Hewitt, running back David Bauer and offensive tackle Mike Regal were on the field on the lone South scoring drive.

"I've been playing with Bauer and Regal since midgets," Collins said. "It's nice having them on the field, and the way (South and Moniteau HighSchool coach Steve) Wilson set it up, we were on the field at the same time. We drove the ball when we were on the field."

Collins is used to being a part of scoring drives. He certainly had enough of them at SlipperyRock.

Collins was thrust into the starting role during his freshman season when starter Mike DeCola broke his clavicle on the final play of the first half against Sharon.

SlipperyRock won the final regular season game and then two playoff games, including the District 10 title, withCollins at the helm before being eliminated from the postseason.

As a sophomore, Collins led SlipperyRock to another district title and to the PIAA semifinals, where the Rockets fell to eventual state champion Aliquippa.

"I had to do a speech for graduation, and I was looking back on my accomplishments, and it is very humbling to look back at yourself and what you accomplished the last four years," Collins said. "It's the same looking back at what we did as a team. Without the team, without the guys around me, I'm nothing."

Collins started 36 straight games at quarterback. In his career, he completed 136-of-370 passes for 2,346 yards and 21 touchdowns while orchestrating a run-first, Wing-T offense. He also rushed 216 times for 701 yards and 12 scores in his career.

His best season was his sophomore campaign, when he threw for 1,039 yards and 13 touchdowns and also rushed for 512 yards in the potent Rockets' attack that produced a 2,000-yard and a 1,000-yard rusher.

During his first two seasons, Collins compiled a 16-3 record. The last two seasons didn't go quite as planned for the quarterback or the team.

The Rockets went 3-6 when Collins was a junior and 4-5 last season after an 0-4 start.

Hewitt said Collins was one of the big reasons for the team's midseason turnaround.

"You can say so many great things about Ben as a player, but he's such a good leader, too," Hewitt said.

"After the start we had and the way we finished, it just shows that if you show up to work every day and work hard, good things can happen. We had chemistry that I have never experienced before."

Collins, who received a scholarship at halftime Saturday, has no plans to strap on the helmet again. He will attend Butler County Community College in the fall and work toward a degree in nursing.

Would he consider playing again in the future?

"No, this is it," Collins said. "I got scholarship money to carry me through. I'll hang up the football cleats."