Spain Park’s Jackson leads defense as Alabama stars beat Mississippi

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Spain Park defensive back might not have gotten as much ink as some of Hoover Bucs defensive stars, but the future Miami Hurricane showed off his skills in front of a TV audience in the Alabama-Mississippi All-Star Game. 

Jackson made 12 tackles including one for a loss to lead the Alabama team to its seventh straight win in the series.

It was a Buccaneer on offense who made the big play, though. Hoover’s Justin Johnson hauled in a 30-yard touchdown pass down the left sideline on the final play of the game to lift the Alabama team over the Mississippi All-Stars 36-30 in the 28th battle between the high school stars from each state. Alabama leads the series 21-7. 

The game was played Dec. 13 at Montgomery’s Cramton Bowl.

The game was tied 30-all with nine seconds remaining when Foley quarterback Tyler Cameron hooked up with Johnson, who caught three passes for 49 yards.

Mississippi looked like it would end the streak, jumping out to a 14-3 lead after one quarter and building a 28-17 halftime lead. But Alabama took the lead when Mountain Brook’s Jacob Carroll threw a 7-yard TD pass to Jalen Harris with 5:10 to play in the third period.

Mississippi tied it up on a safety with 3:22 to go in the third quarter, setting the stage for Johnson’s end-of-game heroics.

Jackson led an Alabama defense that didn’t allow a second-half touchdown. Hoover’s Darrell Wilson had three tackles and broke up a pass and fellow Buc Christian Bell had one tackle and a half-sack.

Spain Park coach Shawn Raney was an assistant for the Alabama team.