Arkansas Business

This story is from the archives of ArkansasSports360.com.

The South All-Stars, which included 13 Southeastern Conference players and a dozen competitors from Arkansas colleges, seemed comfortably in control early, but long drives began bogging down into field goal tries, and the North capitalized to take a 24-19 win in the first Players All-Star Classic at War Memorial Stadium.

Utah State's Michael Smith broke up the middle, shed two arm tackles and raced 80 yards for the tying touchdown in the third quarter, and the ensuing point-after by UConn's David Teggart gave the North the lead for good, 17-16.

After an early touchdown by LSU's Jordan Jefferson on a 7-yard quarterback draw, the South continued to move the ball well but had to settle for four field goals by Long Ding from Norwich University. Ding missed a chip shot in the third quarter, but he did smash a 47-yarder into a cold north wind that pulled the South within, five, 24-19, with 11 minutes to play.

The South had little success reaching the red zone behind former Southern Cal quarterback Aaron Corp. But Jefferson and UCA's Nathan Dick had chances to drive the South to the winning score in the final five minutes but failed. Jefferson had the South at the North 31 and faced a fourth down, held onto the ball too long looking for a receiver and was planted into the fake turf by Nevada's Brett Roy at the 46.

Dick, who had gone 4-for-4 on an 85-yard drive to a Ding field goal in the second quarter, completed one pass in six tries in two late series deep on the South end. Two passes were dropped, and Dick was dumped by a heavy rush once as well.

Ouachita Baptist's Phillip Supernaw had three catches for 58 yards.

“I was just trying to get out here and make the best of my opportunities given," said Supernaw, who has been working out in Dallas recently to prepare for the NFL Draft. “Especially for someone like me out of a small school, it’s great, especially to be here in Arkansas and right by Ouachita. It’s a great feeling playing against those D-1 guys. It’s great competition and I loved it."

ASU's Brandon Joiner was named the South's defensive MVP. Joiner, an end, had two early sacks in the game totaling 12 yards, and the South had its clamps on the North early in building a 10-0 lead.

"Man, that’s just an amazing honor," Joiner said of the MVP award. "There’s a lot of guys out here, it could have went to any other guy. I’m just glad I got it because there’s a lot of guys who made a lot of good plays too. So, honestly, I just thank God I’m who got awarded that award."

The South could not maintain its early edge in the game, however.

“We were [in control], but the North ... they had good players, we had good players," Joiner said. "They capitalized on some big plays. Momentum kind of shifted in their favor, and once you let a good team start scoring and stuff, things like that happen. We tried to pick up towards the end and bring it back, but we just couldn’t get everything together all the way."

Henderson State's Antonio Leak had a solid game with five tackles from an outside linebacker position.