Alabama Defeats Mississippi In High School All-Star Football Game
MOBILE- Two fourth quarter touchdowns enabled a 14-10 come-from-behind by Alabama over Mississippi in the 36th Alabama-Mississippi All-Star Football Classic played at Whitney Hancock Stadium in Mobile. The Alabama squad struggled for three quarters, but scored twice in the final nine minutes to carve out a four-point victory.
The win was the third in-a-row for Alabama and increased its control of the series 25 wins and 11 losses in a classic that played its first game in 1988.
Playing for the 40-player Alabama All-Star squad, comprised of seniors selected from schools throughout the state, was Maddox Sunderman of Bob Jones. The 6-foot-3, 290-pound offensive lineman played much of the contest against the 40-player squad from Mississippi high schools. Sunderman is expected to receive his third consecutive selection to the Class 7A All-State Team and has committed to Jacksonville State as the No. 8 rated player in Alabama.
The host team scored at the 8:42 mark of the final stanza on a four-yard run by Earl Woods of Hueytown and followed with a 16-yard pass from Chris Vizzina of Briarwood Christian to Dave Dozier of Moody High for the winning score with 2:35 remaining. The Alabama defense stopped Mississippi after Alabama’s first score and stifled any chance of a Mississippi last-second possible score with an interception.
For the game, Alabama had 209 total offensive yards to Mississippi’s 189. The visitors scored on a 35-yard field goal in the first quarter and tallied its lone touchdown on a 52-yard run in the third quarter. Alabama’s offense was corralled by the Mississippi defense in the first half. Alabama completed just four of five passes for six yards, rushed for only 14 yards and turned the ball over three times- two interceptions and one lost fumble- in the first half of action.
