By CURTIS ROCKWELL

GULFPORT — For the second consecutive season, the outcome of the 75th annual Bernard Blackwell North/South All-Star Football Classic came down the fourth and final quarter.
And also for the second straight year, the home-standing South squad was the team that pulled out the win in exciting fashion.
South quarterback Landon Varnes of Brandon found wide out Cayden Burger of Petal on a 26-yard touchdown pass with just under five minutes to play giving the team its first lead of the game and resulting in a 20-15 victory. The win, taking place at historic Milner Stadium for the 13th consecutive time, marked the fourth straight win in the annual affair for the South.

“This game always seems to come down to the fourth quarter,” Gulfport head coach Blake Pennock, who also served as the head coach for the South team, said. “We needed to play better on offense in the second half and we did, and that was the difference.”
The South now leads the series 37-29-5 all-time. Last season, the South scored with 10 seconds to play to pull out the win.
After a sluggish first half by both teams that saw the North up 8-0 through the first 23 minutes and change of the game, there were some fireworks from both sides in the final seconds just before halftime.

The North extended their lead to what at that point seemed almost an almost commanding advantage when quarterback Raheem Vance of Olive Branch hit wide receiver Keon Hutchins of Union on a 62-yard touchdown pass. The extra point put the North team up 15-0 with just 13 seconds to play before intermission.
However, the South struck quickly to return the deficit to seven as Dee Darby of Jefferson Davis County bolted 91-yards yards to paydirt with the ensuing kickoff return for a touchdown making it 15-7.
The North took that aforementioned 8-0 lead in the first quarter when quarterback Michael Johnson of South Panola hooked up on a 45-yard scoring strike to Jalen Washington of Houston. The two-point conversion put the North up 8-0 with 7:32 left in the opening period.

That initial scoring drive was set up by a blocked punt by the North special teams unit.
The South continued to cut into the North advantage as the second half unfolded as they recorded the only points in the third period when running back Tavares Wade Hattiesburg scored on a 3-yard touchdown run with 2:07 left in frame making it 15-13. The try for two failed, and in turn, set up the climactic ending for the South to come.
The Varnes to Burger scoring strike that proved to be the game-winner in the final period was also the only scoring in that period as the South shut out the North in the second half to secure the win.
Picayune’s J.B. McWilliams was named the South Defensive Most Valuable Player while Burger took home the same honor as the Offensive MVP for the winning team. The North Offensive MVP was Keon Hutchins of Union and the North Defensive MVP was Tyler Carter of Vicksburg.