Regardless of the level of play, in football, when you come up on the short end of the turnover margin, chances are good you are going to lose that game.
That was the case in the 37th playing of the Mississippi-Alabama All-Star Game Saturday afternoon at M.M. Roberts Stadium on the campus of the University of Southern Mississippi.
The Mississippi all-stars gave up five turnovers, a fumble, and four interceptions, along with a blocked punt that gave Alabama the ball at the Mississippi 6-yard-line. And that was enough for Alabama to come away with a 26-17 victory.
It was the fourth consecutive win for Alabama, giving them a 26-11 advantage in the overall series.
“This was a great week,” said Mississippi head coach Judd Boswell of Clinton. “It was a blessing to be around these kids. They got along really well. When you get a bunch of guys who are all-stars; there are no egos here, and that’s rare. It was a great group of kids to be around.”
Things started off wrong for Mississippi early on.
After stopping Alabama’s first possession, Mississippi took over at their own 25 and promptly lost 8 yards when Meridian’s Daniel Hill was stopped behind the line of scrimmage, and Oak Grove quarterback A.J. Maddox threw two straight incompletions.
On the punt attempt, kicker Hayden Wolfe of Clinton tried to avoid a big rush by the Alabama defense, and his punt attempt was blocked by Dre Kirkpatrick of Gadsden City, giving Alabama the ball at the 6-yard line.
Jamarion Burnett of Andalusia made short work of that yardage for the first score less than three minutes into the game.
Kirkpatrick was a thorn in Mississippi’s side throughout the game. He finished with six tackles, forced a fumble, and returned it 26 yards to set up another touchdown and picked off two passes in the second half.
“They have some dudes over there who made some plays at the right time,” said Starkville quarterback Trey Petty. “It was a blessing to play against those guys, and play well and compete hard. Shoutout to those guys; they’ve got some ballers.
Petty came on in the next series and quickly marched Mississippi down the field, converting a third-and-10 with a 27-yard pass to St. Martin’s Norvel White and had a 14-yard pass and a 10-yard pass to J.J Harrell of North Panola for first down at the Alabama 19.
However, two running plays netted just 4 yards and on third down, Petty misfired to Starkville teammate Stonka Burnside. A false start moved the ball back five yards and Wolfe’s 38-yard field goal went wide left.
Alabama looked poised to build a two-touchdown lead on the next possession as they marched from their own 30 to a first down at the Mississippi 28.
But Mississippi stiffened, and on fourth-and-7, Oak Grove’s P.J. Woodland sniffed out a reverse and made a one-on-one tackle in the open field for a 4-yard loss to thwart the Alabama drive.
“We started off with a bad snap on a punt we couldn’t handle,” said Boswell. “They get the ball inside the 10-yard-line, then we turn the ball over twice on their side of the field and we couldn’t finish drives.
“That’s a credit to them, too. They’ve got some really great players over there. But that was the big story in the game, us not finishing drives and turning the ball over.”
That seemed to spur the Mississippi offense, as they drove 71 yards in 12 plays for the tying touchdown.
Maddox completed first-down throws of 10 yards to Burnside and White on back-to-back plays, then converted a third down with a 9-yard swing pass to Brandon’s Nate Blount. Hill followed with a 16-yard run to the Alabama 25 on the final play of the first quarter.
Maddox saved disaster on third-and-12, when he picked up a high snap over his head, rolled to the right, and found Burnside along the sideline for a 14-yard pickup and a first down.
Petty came on and showed his ball-handling skills by faking a handoff to the right and circling around the left end for the 6-yard touchdown run.
“They were taking the back real hard, so I knew fake the handoff long enough for them to take the fake and just beat them to the edge,” said Petty.
Petty completed 13 of 20 passes for 160 yards and a touchdown pass and was named Mississippi Most Valuable Player. His elusiveness was as much a challenge to his blockers as it was for the defense.
“It’s amazing to have a quarterback like him playing behind you that can extend plays and get it to the receivers,” said Ziron Brown of Bay High. “You just have to be alert he when moves around in the pocket.”
After the score, Alabama wasted little time regaining the lead. After getting a first down at the Mississippi 49, Alabama quarterback Roman Gagliano of Opelika found Saraland’s Ryan Williams wide-open along the left side for an easy touchdown reception.
Williams finished with eight catches for 92 yards and two scores to earn MVP honors for Alabama.
“We knew he was a great player coming into the game,” said Boswell. “Yeah, he hurt us in the first half, then we made some defensive adjustments to get some different personnel on him, and they did a good job in the second half.”
Mississippi narrowed the lead on the ensuing drive but had to settle for a 38-yard field goal from Wolfe after Petty was sacked for a 9-yard loss, with 5 yards added on for an illegal forward pass.
Although Alabama got some big plays out of the passing game, Mississippi was effective against the run, holding Alabama to 72 yards on 32 runs.
“It was a good week for me,” said Gulfport defensive end Kai McClendon. “We practiced hard all week. Everybody executed and did their job leading up to the game.
“We played a team on the d-line. Everybody swung to the ball like our coaches told us to, and everybody did their part. Our main job was to cut out the run game, so they had to go everywhere else on the field.”
Mississippi got its only turnover of the game on the first play after the kickoff when Clarksdale’s Patrick Broomfield swiped a pass from Gagliano at midfield but did nothing with it.
The game really turned in the final minute of the first half after an exchange of punts.
Mississippi took over with 34 seconds left at their own 36 and promptly gave the ball up after a completion from Petty to Michael Johnson of South Panola was jarred loose after a 6-yard pickup by Kirkpatrick, who rambled 26 yards to the Mississippi 16.
With just 20 seconds to work with, Alabama still managed to cash in the turnover when Jared Hollins of Mary Montgomery connected with Williams on a fade pattern from 4 yards out with five seconds left on the clock.
Mississippi blocked the PAT kick, but Alabama went into the locker room with a 20-10 halftime lead.
The home team had two good chances to narrow the margin on their first two possessions in the third quarter.
Petty overcame a holding call to convert a third-and-11 with a 31-yard pass to Burnside, but on the subsequent third down, Xavier Johnson of Muscle Shoals got in front of an underthrown ball for an interception at the Alabama 1-yard-line.
After getting a three-and-out, Maddox drove Mississippi to a first-and-goal at the Alabama 9, but on second down, Kirkpatrick pulled in a tipped ball in the end zone for another interception.
Kirkpatrick tried to run it out and was stopped at the 8-yard line, but that didn’t faze the Alabama team. On third-and-6 from the 12, Gagliano found Malcolm Simmons of Benjamin Russell with a step on the defense and he pulled out of a tackle for an 88-yard scoring play.
Again, the PAT kick was no good, but Alabama had all the points they would need.
Mississippi answered with a quick six-play 56-yard touchdown drive. Petty hit Burnside for gains of 9 and 18 yards, then found Hill alone in the end zone for a 14-yard scoring pass.
A successful onside kick gave Mississippi the ball right back, but Alabama forced a three-and-out and the opportunity was lost.
Alabama used more than four minutes off the fourth-quarter clock, driving from their own 22 to the Mississippi 18, but a sack on third down pushed them back 10 yards and a fourth-down pass was knocked away.
Mississippi’s last two possessions ended up in the hands of Alabama defenders, with Kirkpatrick picking off Maddox and defensive end Jamari Payne of Loachapoka stepping in front of Petty’s last pass of the day, both near midfield.
Although the outcome was disappointing, Mississippi players from the Coast were positive about their work throughout the week.
“It’s been a great week, going against some of the best players in Mississippi in practice, working on improving myself,” said Brown, who has committed to Stanford.
“Ever since I started playing football, my goal was to be an all-star and play in this game. These are all huge steps to becoming a top football player. I’m blessed to be here.”
Next year’s game is scheduled for Hancock-Whitney Stadium on the campus of the University of South Alabama in Mobile, with the game returning to Hattiesburg in 2025.
