The 71st Bernard Blackwell All Star Football Classic sponsored by Rex Team Sports will be held on Saturday at Joseph Milner Stadium, Lindy Callahan Field, in Gulfport, with kickoff scheduled for 11:30 a.m.
General admission tickets will be available at the gate for $10 per person with all seats general admission. The game is being played for the 11th consecutive year on the Gulf Coast and the 8th straight year in Gulfport.
Representing Winston County on the North roster will be Drea Shumaker and Kristian Hopkins of Louisville and Shia Moore and Tylan Glass fo Nanih Waiya.
The game will only be available for broadcast on an internet stream at Friday Night Under The Lights at fnutl.com or the MAC Network on the web site at mscoaches.com/mac-network/livestream
The North will be coached by Clinton Gatewood of Greenville while the South will be paced by Tony Vance of Hattiesburg. Each squad consists of 42 players.
The game features a North-South format and the South leads the series 33-28-4. In the 70th Annual Bernard Blackwell Classic played on Dec. 8, 2018, the teams tied 0-0 in a driving rain in Gulfport. The dual blanking was the first in the series since 1963.
The C-Spire Most Valuable Offensive Player for the North was wide receiver Bud Tolbert of Water Valley while the North’s C-Spire Most Valuable Defensive Player was linebacker Mike Smith of Ridgeland. The South C-Spire Offensive MVP was running back Micah Kelly of Ocean Springs and the C-Spire South Defensive MVP was defensive back Devandre “Dre” Bays of Winona. The Bill Stewart Award winner for the South was T. Q. Newsome of Gulfport while the Bill Stewart Award winner for the North was Omar Pew of Horn Lake.
he Bernard Blackwell All Star Football Classic is formerly known as the Mississippi High School All Star Football Game and was originated in 1950 by Mississippi State coach Arthur “Slick” Morton. The MAC assumed sponsorship of the game from the Jackson Touchdown Club in 1993. In 1994, the game was renamed for Coach Bernard Blackwell, the late Executive Director of the MAC.
