Saraland’s Santae McWilliams (24) finds running room against the North defense Friday in the North-South All-Star Game at Hancock-Whitney Stadium in Mobile. (John O’Dell/Call News)
By ARTHUR L. MACK
MOBILE — Three late touchdowns set up by turnovers lifted the North to a 45-24 win in the North-South All-Star Game at Hancock-Whitney Stadium Friday.
Pleasant Grove’s Tremell Washington broke a 24-24 tie late in the fourth quarter when he scored on a 64-yard touchdown pass from Fort Payne’s Dax Varadore after an interception.
Moments later, North MVP Jamar Moultrie of Hoover returned an interception 56 yards for a touchdown and a fumbled snap at the 1-yard line on the South’s ensuing possession set up Center Point’s Therman Moore for a 6-yard TD run.
The North jumped to a 21-0 first-quarter lead over the injury plagued South on Moore’s 7-yard run, Hoover quarterback Mac Beason — who was 7-of-15 passing for 110 yards and an interception — scored on a 14-yard run, and Parker’s Terence Gaines added a 5-yard scoring run.
Helena’s Austin Lewis nailed a 21-yard field goal to make it 24-0 in the second quarter but the South answered with 1-yard and 3-yard TD runs from Carver-Montgomery’s Tre Berry to close the gap. In the fourth quarter, South MVP C.J. May of Highland Home blocked a punt to set up a 16-yard TD pass from Auburn’s Jackson Kilgore to Montgomery Academy’s D.J. Vinson and a 30-yard field goal from Baker’s Blayne Munson tied it 24-24.
“What’s even crazier about this game is that on the opening kickoff, we had two defensive backs go down with injuries,” South coach Kenny King of Daphne said. “We had to do a whole rotation, then we had a couple of wide receivers go down with injuries. We just got sloppy at the end. We had some turnovers and some bad plays and they got us.”
