The South All-Stars scored two touchdowns in the final 54 seconds Thursday night at Montgomery’s Cramton Bowl to beat the North 37-33 in the highest scoring contest in the 53-game history of the annual AHSAA all-star event.

The South team features local graduates Erick Camarillo of Thorsby and Hunter McCay of Maplesville, and was coached by MHS’s Brent Hubbert.

Also, Chilton County High School’s Kipp Moore played in the all-star baseball doubleheader on July 11.

Both those games were won by the North, 8-4 and 13-0.

In the football game, South quarterback Kyle Caldwell earned MVP honors for his team with 22-of-38 passes completed for 393 yards and five touchdowns – all new North-South All-Star game records. He engineered a nine-play, 71-yard scoring drive that culminated in a 13-yard touchdown pass to Michael Watts of Greenville with 54 seconds left and then kicked the extra point to close a 33-23 North lead to three at 33-30.

Caldwell then kicked a perfect onside kick that was recovered by James Jones of Thomasville at the North 48. Four plays later Caldwell found Ardarius Dawsey open on the left sideline and the Cottonwood receiver shook loose from one defender to race 40 yards for the game-winning touchdown with only 25 seconds remaining. Caldwell’s PAT kick closed the scoring.

South receiver Antonio Pitts, the Carver-Montgomery product who set new All-Star game records for receiving yards (191) and receptions (8), raced 73 yards with 7:51 left to play in the fourth quarter to jump-start the comeback rally.  Caldwell also threw a 37-yard TD pass to Kendarius Fritts of Linden in the second quarter and a 19-yarder to Desmond DeBose of Cottonwood in the third period to round out his record-setting five touchdown tosses.

Caldwell also led his team in rushing with 67 yards on 13 carries to finish with 460 total yards.

North quarterback Ryan Carter of Hoover completed 12-of-18 passes for 267 yards that also broke the previous All-Star high of 229 set by Jeff Davis’ Jeff Aaron in 1997. Carter also had four touchdown passes – three to  North Jackson receiver Montel Hale covering 47, 21 and 50 yards. The 47-yarder came after a penalty and on the first official play of the game. His third TD came three plays into the second half.

Hale, who had seven catches for 181 yards to be named the North MVP, set the All-Star game series record for  touchdowns (4) when he scored on a 2-yard run with 2:45 to go in the game giving the North a 33-23 lead. It broke the previous record (3) set by Terry Beasley of Robert E. Lee in 1968.

Carter also connected with Tyric Scales of Cedar Bluff for a 9-yard score with 14 seconds left in the first half to give the North a 19-8 lead at halftime.

“It was an exciting game,” Hubbert said. “It came down to the very end.”

The North head coach was Fort Payne’s Paul Ellis.

The South win broke a two-game winning streak of the North and now holds a 29-22-2 edge in the series that began in 1948.

Both teams set the total offense record in the series with 690 combined passing yards and 870 combined total yards.