MOBILE — Alabama has now won four in a row over Mississippi.
It was a shootout, but the Alabama All-Stars scored 17 fourth quarter points to get past the Mississippi All-Stars, 35-29, in the 38th annual Mississippi/Alabama All-Star Game on Saturday afternoon at South Alabama’s Hancock Whitney Stadium.
Alabama now leads the all-time series 27-11. “At the end of the week we told the guys all week to go out, play football, have fun, and we battled all the way to the end,” said Mississippi head coach Tony Vance of Hattiesburg. “It was a lot of fun. Entertaining game and most points scored in this game in a long time.” Saturday’s game was the third-highest scoring game in the series with 64, behind only 2014 (66) and 2007 (65). Alabama scored first on a 4-yard touchdown pass from K.J. Lacey to T.K. Norman with 2:42 left in the first quarter to take a 7-0 lead.
Mississippi answered with a 33-yard touchdown pass from Deuce Knight to Maddox Lynch, but the extra point was missed, so Alabama held a 7-6 lead with 26 seconds left in first quarter.
Mississippi took a 12-7 lead as Anthony Hopson recovered a fumble in the end zone on a fumbled snap off a punt. Alabama took a 15-12 lead on an 87-yard touchdown pass from Lacey to Daylin Upshaw.Knight scored on a 1-yard run to give Mississippi a 19-15 lead with 1:10 left in the first half.Cleat Forrest’s 32-yard field goal for Alabama cut the Mississippi lead to 19-18 with 7:06 left in the third quarter. Mississippi stretched the lead out to 22-18 on an Evan Noel 30-yard field with 1:22 left in the third quarter. Alabama took a 25-22 lead on a 13-yard touchdown pass from Lacey to Carson Gill with 9:14 left in the fourth quarter. Mississippi regained the lead at 29-25 on a Knight 55-yard touchdown run with 8:02 left in the game. Alabama regained the lead on a 30-yard touchdown pass from Lacey to Norman with 6:53 left in the fourth quarter. Alabama stretched their lead out to 35-29 on a Forrest 32-yard field goal with 3:15 left in the game. After Jamarcus Flowers intercepted a pass with 1:05 left in the game, Knight was tackled after a short gain and sacked on the last play of the game at midfield to end the game. “We gave ourselves a chance to win and came up short,” Vance said. “I can’t be more proud of this group of kids. They played hard and represented themselves, schools, communities, and coaches well.” Knight, an Auburn signee, finished 17-of-23 passing for 176 yards with a touchdown and added 139 yards rushing on 14 carries and two touchdowns to lead Mississippi. He was named Mississippi’s Most Valuable Player.
“It was a fun game anytime you get to play against the best, it’s always fun,” Knight said. “It was a lot of fun playing against those guys and some guys I’m about to be teammates with.”
Starkville receiver D.J. Hairston had three catches for 18 yards in the game.
“It was a lot of fun getting to play in this game and showing that I can play with anybody. It was a fun, intense game (with) guys making plays all over,” Hairston said. “It was amazing playing with the top players from Mississippi and being one of the top players from Mississippi is a blessing.”
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