HUNTSVILLE – A pair of Hartselle graduates play key roles in the North’s 14-7 victory over the South Friday night at Alabama A&M’s Louis Crews Stadium.
Logan Cain and Payton Sittason represented Hartselle as the North – coached by Hartselle head coach Bob Godsey – picked up its 22nd win in the 52- game series.
Cain, who will be an invited walk-on at Troy University this fall, had six stops with four solo tackles for the North.
Sittason, who was playing in his final football game, had three receptions for 28 yards in the North’s win.
Former Hartselle offensive lineman Chad Hampton was also selected for the team but did not participate after reporting at Jacksonville State for summer workouts.
Several players dropped out since June, but that just opened up spots for players like Sittason. The Hartselle record-setting wide receiver was not on the team’s original roster but was added to the North squad when a receiver dropped out in June.
“Coach Godsey called me and asked me if I was in shape,” Sittason said. “It was just a great honor to play in this game.”
Sittason was comfortable in the North’s offense that was led by Godsey. “Some of the plays we ran were the same plays we used at Hartselle.”
The North team closed out the win with a fourth-quarter touchdown run by Antavio Smith with just under nine minutes remaining in the game.
The two teams had one week of practices to prepare for the annual all-star game.
“That first day, none of the players knew each other and everyone was really just sort of sizing each other up to see how good they were,” Cain said. “Suddenly, within 24 hours we were a team.
“We knew that these were guys we could count on and it was the same thing off the field. You just didn’t want to let these guys down.”
After a scoreless first quarter, the North team took a 7-0 lead after North MVP Justin Adams threw a 37-yard touchdown pass to Jamarcus Nelson with 1:35 remaining in the half.
Adams and Nelson were teammates at Midfield.
The South tied the game in the third quarter when Quin Richardson caught a 1-yard touchdown pass from Chilton County’s Taylor Hughes.
The score came on the opening possession of the second half that took almost five minutes before Richardson’s score.
Justin Evans rushed for 64 yards on 12 carries to lead the North team. He also threw for 64 yards and a touchdown in the win.
The North finished the All-Star Week with wins in softball, volleyball, boys’ and girls’ basketball and football. The South’s lone win came in girls’ soccer.