By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

MOBILE, Ala. — “Same song, different verse…A little bit louder, a little bit…”

Well, you get the picture.

Home-standing Alabama captured a come-from-behind 35-29 win over Mississippi in the prestigious Alabama/Mississippi All-Star Football Classic here at Hancock/Whitney Stadium on the campus of the University of South Alabama Saturday afternoon. Alabama has now won four straight and now leads the annual affair at 27-11 all-time after the finish at the 38th annual affair.

And once again in the most recent renewal of this almost four decade event, Alabama continued its domination all-time in the series which dates back to 1988.

Veteran Pascagoula head coach Lewis Sims has been watching the results both near and far for most of the history of the game, and he served as the defensive coordinator of his home state Saturday in the contest.

“It’s just an unbelievable experience,” Sims, who has been a head coach in Jackson County for 17 seasons, said. “Working with arguably the best 42 players in the state and coaching hall of fame caliber coaches was a once in a lifetime experience. Our players were phenomenal. They were unselfish athletes who worked hard and learned our scheme in only six practices. They left it all on the field and played their hearts out for the state of Mississippi.”

Sims was just a sophomore in 1988 preparing for his first season at Moss Point High under the guidance of legendary head coach Billy Wayne Miller when Pascagoula All-American quarterback Shane Matthews led Mississippi up against the neighbors to the east in the inaugural game of the series.

Organizers of the All-Star Classic could not have picked a better game to start off the series than that one, which turned out to be one of the most exciting high school games ever played at Ladd Stadium in Mobile. 

Alabama eventually won the contest, 24-21, but only after three heart-stopping overtime periods. 

But the highlights have been few and far between for the Magnolia State since then.

“Alabama has 5.1 million people, we have 2.94 million,” Sims added. “For there to be that much difference in population, we compete every year and they have just over two million more people than us.”

On Saturday, the Alabama All-Stars scored 17 fourth-quarter points to complete that comeback win the  Mississippi All-Stars 35-29 in the 38th annual Mississippi-Alabama All-Star Classic on Saturday afternoon at South Alabama’s Hancock Whitney Stadium.

“We told the guys all week to go out, play football, and have fun; and we battled all the way to the end,” said Mississippi head coach Tony Vance of Hattiesburg High. “It was a lot of fun. It was an entertaining game and the most points scored in this game in a long time.”

In fact, the game was third-highest scoring game in the series with 64 combined points. The most points scored in this game was 66 in 2014, and the second highest was 65 points in 2007.

The loss overshadowed an outstanding performance for George County senior standout signal-caller Deuce Knight, as the Auburn signee finished with 17-of-23 passing for 176 yards with a touchdown and added 139 yards rushing on 14 carries and two touchdowns. 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 I’m about to be teammates with some of those guys.”

Alabama star quarterback K.J. Lacey, a University of Texas signee out of Saraland High, out-dueled Knight as he completed 21-of-36 passes with four touchdown throws in the winning effort. He was named Alabama’s MVP.

Next year’s game is expected to return to Mississippi soil at M.M. Roberts Stadium on the campus of the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg where the home team will try and earn its first win since 2109.

“Our guys don’t care (about the past), they just go out and compete,” Sims concluded. “From zero stars to five stars, the Mississppi kids battle with everything they have every year and give ’em 48 minutes of hell.”