LANETT — For the third-consecutive season, the 1A No. 3-ranked Lanett Panthers (6-0, 3-0) will send an athlete to the Alabama-Mississippi All-Star Football Game. Senior quarterback Kristian Story was named to the roster as an athlete on Wednesday evening.

“We’ve had three guys in a row to play in that game, which is a big game, it’s very important to the state of Alabama,” Lanett head football coach Clifford Story, Jr. said. “Alabama is anxious to get the trophy back to their side and they take it seriously when we were down there all week. I was very elated that Kristian got into that game because by me coaching it [in 2018] and seeing the network and relationships that you build will be very important to his career.”

Anquaveious Pollard played in 2017, while Trikweze Bridges represented Lanett in 2018 in the game.

Story, a four-star recruit and Alabama-commit, could line up from anywhere including wide receiver and quarterback in the exhibition, according to Coach Story.

“It feels good to know that I was named among the best players in the state to play on the team,” Kristian Story said. “It feels good for me, being from Lanett, it’s our third year having somebody from Lanett represent the team. It feels great.”

Last season as a junior, Story finished as one of the finalists for state player of the year. He’s been a highly-touted recruit since his sophomore season, when he lead the Panthers to an undefeated state championship run in 2017 as a first-year starting quarterback.

Before his junior season, he was ranked as the No. 1 athlete in the state of Alabama for the Class of 2020.

“Whenever I play against someone, I know that I’m going to get their best every time because they want to beat me and prove that they should be where I am,” Kristian Story said. “I just know that I have to continue to work hard and push myself to not let anyone else catch up to me.”

That competitive drive has been with Kristian his entire life, his father said.

“When he comes to me on the sideline and tells me the things that he sees and the things that he does, it really gives my heart joy because at the end of the day, even when he was a little boy, he would sit in my lap and watch film,” Coach Story said. “At that time, you’d be surprised what they do pick up, even if they’re just a child. He would come sit in my lap and ask questions about football, whether it be simple, generic stuff, he would ask me why the running back would do this or why the receiver did that. He’s doing what he’s been taught to do and football’s in him, he’s always loved it, that’s what he’s always wanted to do, he wanted to be a part of it, even when he was my water boy. He ran around here all day and I would have to make him get out of drills because he wanted to get up there and play receiver. He wanted to get on the line, he wanted to play quarterback, he wanted to play running back. It’s just in him.”

Kristian only has a few more weeks of playing for his father and the goal remains the same.  

“I’m excited to see how we end up because of course we want to end it down in Auburn with a championship, but we have to take it one day at a time, one game at a time and not move too fast on that goal,” Coach Story said. “ I feel like we have a defense that can do it, and our offense has picked it up a lot. I’m just excited to see what we can do in the second half [of the season].”