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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

MONTGOMERY – Lightning struck twice in Montgomery on Wednesday, July 17 as the boys soccer North All-Stars won by the same scoreline as the girls while aided by a Briarwood Christian assist.

The boys soccer North All-Stars walked away from the North-South All-Star Game with a 4-1 win over the South All-Stars as Briarwood’s Sawyer Felton, Oak Mountain’s Gabe Capocci and Westminster at Oak Mountain’s Aiden Gamble took the field at the Emory Folmar YMCA Soccer Complex.

Felton earned an assist on the opening goal of the match, swinging in a corner kick in the fourth minute that led to a goal from Southside-Gadsden’s Camren Thompson to put the North up 1-0.

That assist was Felton’s biggest contribution to the match in his 63 minutes on the pitch as he spurred the North on to victory, and it came just hours after BCS classmate Taylor Leib earned an assist to go with her opening goal in an MVP performance for the girls North All-Stars.

Felton wasn’t the only man to represent Shelby County in the victory as Capocci logged 66 minutes of match time to follow up on his big season with undefeated Oak Mountain and Gamble played 61 minutes after reaching the state title game as a member of Westminster OM.

The South equalized in the 35th minute with a goal by Ethan Spuler, tying up the score at 1-1 going into halftime, but the North responded with three second half goals to see out the win.

Randy Cortes found Springville’s Jerome Byrd in the 56th minute to retake the 2-1 lead, and eight minutes later, Cortes scored in the 64th minute after Thompson crossed the ball into the middle of the box.

Thompson then added his second goal of the match off a sliding assist from John Carroll Catholic’s Sebastian Guerrero in the 73rd minute to put the finishing touches on the 4-1 win. Thompson would win MVP honors for the North thanks to his three-point performance.

The North scored its four goals on just 14 shots, losing the shooting battle to the South 19-14. However, they saved five shots compared to the South’s two.

Felton and Capocci each earned themselves selections for the North-South match thanks to their performances during the 2024 season that solidified them as the top rising seniors from the northern region of Alabama.

Capocci had 10 goals and six assists from the midfield this past season as the Eagles went 29-0-1 and won the Class 7A state championship. He earned First Team spots on the Super All-State, Class 7A All-State, All-County and All-Metro rosters.

Felton ended the season with multiple postseason honors, including Second Team selections for All-County and All-Metro, after the midfielder led the Lions to an area championship and spot in the second round of the playoffs.

Gamble won the Shelby County Golden Boot after he scored 35 goals for the Knights en route to finishing runner-up in Class 1A-3A, tying the single-season school record for goals. He also had 14 assists while earning spots on the Super All-State Second Team, Class 1A-3A All-State First Team, All-County First Team and All-Metro First Team.

The North now leads the all-time series with the South All-Stars 16-4-1 with this year’s victory.