BATON ROUGE, Louisiana — A large number of local high-school football players played for the East All-Stars in the eighth Max Emfinger All-American Bowl Game Classic Jan. 7 at A.W. Mumford Stadium on the historic campus of Southern University and A&M College. Several local players were honored with position and phase MVP awards.

The West Team won in a final-second, nail biter 21-20 to take the series lead after eight games.

“The kids from Baldwin County had a great week of practice, and played outstanding in the All-American Game,” East team recruiting coordinator Mike Ebert said. “It seemed like every other play the announcer was calling out a Baldwin County football player for making a great play.”

The underdog East Team, with Wes Chandler as head coach and McGill-Toolen Catholic head coach Bart Sessions as defensive coordinator, gave up only seven points on defense.

The All-American Bowl Game Classic is considered to be a game for “under the recruiting radar” players to show their stuff.

East Team MVP recipients on offense included RB Trey Roberts of McGill-Toolen; WR Chase Hadley of Robertsdale; OL Dak Sims of Pensacola, Fla; Jake Wallace of Shreveport Evangel, La; Brandon Farmer of Gulfport Harrison Central, Miss., and Kyron Samuels of Fairhope.

Defensive MVPs for the East were, DL Tyrell Biggs of Panama City Bay, Fla. and David Dalton of Robertsdale, who recorded six tackles and two sacks; LB James Franklin; safety Damarius Travis and cornerback Charles Carter of Fairhope, who recorded seven tackles and had two pass deflections. Punter Wyatt Hubbard of Foley was a special teams MVP after booming a monster 62-yarder in the game.

Other locals taking part were: LB Scott Dacus, WR Alex Sealy, WR Brent McDonald, RB Tanner Martin of Fairhope and LB Donald Mix, OL Jonathan Jordan, DL Andre Pigrum, Chris Norman, Montrey Thornton and Dalton Overstreet of Baldwin County High. Fairhope had seven players participate including Elias Petties who caught the final touchdown-set-up pass of the game with 24 seconds to go at the West 5-yard line. The East scored two plays later and went for two points to win trailing 21-20 with 20 seconds left but came up short for the loss.

Ebert, who got involved with the Emfinger all-star game after seeing many talented and deserving athletes get little or no recognition — especially those who could not afford college without scholarship help — said the impact of an extra look can mean a lot for some players and their families.