FAIRHOPE, Ala. — In the sixth annual Battle of the Bay Charity Soccer Showcase boys match at W.C. Majors Field Friday, the Baldwin County boys came from behind after a scoreless first half to tie the Mobile all stars 3-3.

The second tie in series history, the Mobile side has never lost and the Baldwin side will still be looking for it’s first victory next year with a Western Shore favored record of 4-0-2.

Daphne graduate Hails Seawell shared the MVP honors with Mobile defender Joe Goodwin. Fairhope’s Jacob Ard and Welles Richardson scored the first and third goals around Seawell’s second Baldwin goal. Foley’s Christian Cabrera, Richardson and Lans Stallings of Fairhope picked up assists. Josh Harrelson, Nick Butler and Conner Klyce scored in that order for MC.

The annual event supports Kicks for Cancer and The Children’s Hospital at the University of Texas’ M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. The 2011 showcase raised over $2,500 from ticket and concession sales.

Seawell, who played the entire 90 minutes and made the elite showcase as a junior and sophomore, said a win would have been nice, but exiting his high-school career as the co-MVP honor meant a lot.

“It really feels great,” he said. “Ended on a great note. A great cause for cancer and a great honor to get that (MVP) just makes it even more special to me. We lost the first year I played. We almost broke the curse last year and almost again this year. Last year they came back on us and this year we came back on them. It’s just been a fun way to wrap up the season each year. A great rivalry. I know all these guys from club too and we all enjoy it a lot.”

Seawell, who decided to hang up his futbol boots to focus on a double major in engineering and pre-med at Lehigh University (Bethlehem, Penn.) this fall, added that future Baldwin all-stars will have to overcome soccer’s “Curse of the Causeway” on their own.

“Now we have to leave it to them,” he said. “And hopefully the guys next year will break it and win the first one for Baldwin County and finally get a ‘W’ for us over here.”

The Baldwin boys were led by University of Mobile coach Dean Logan who was impressed with the level of play and the resolve to come back from a 3-1 deficit.

“It was an exciting game with some of the best players on the high school level here and it was a blessing to see all these kids playing entertaining football tonight,” he said. “I think the fans were happy for the two teams that nobody came out injured and most everyone had fun. It was very competitive and everyone was satisfied. Both sides played with great passion and when we were down by two goals, they never gave up, never gave up. That is always good to see. Hails played very well and so did Joe (Goodwin). It was an exciting game of great defensive struggle with flashes of offensive brilliance.”

Mobile all-stars coach Daniel Whelan, who also coaches for the Rams at UM said the defensive-dominating 0-0 score at the half led him to expect a 0-0 draw at the end.

“It was a great game and it was great for the fans,” he said. “But it was not looking like a 3-3 game at halftime when it was nil-nil.”