Daphne 28, Fairhope 0

Trojans blank Pirates to take back Jubilee Cup with road win over rivals

By John Underwood / john@gulfcoastmedia.com
Posted 9/21/16

FAIRHOPE, Alabama — The cannon sounded to signal the start of the contest and was never heard from again as the Daphne Trojans shut out rivals the Fairhope Pirates 28-0 to win back the Jubilee Cup …

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Daphne 28, Fairhope 0

Trojans blank Pirates to take back Jubilee Cup with road win over rivals

Posted

FAIRHOPE, Alabama — The cannon sounded to signal the start of the contest and was never heard from again as the Daphne Trojans shut out rivals the Fairhope Pirates 28-0 to win back the Jubilee Cup Friday night on W.C. Majors Field at Fairhope Municipal Stadium.

After taking a 7-0 halftime lead, the Trojans used two quick defensive scores to start the second half to take a commanding 21-0 lead over the Pirates and never looked back en route to the win.

“We challenged our players at halftime and they stepped up to the challenge,” said first-year head coach Kenny King following the contest. “We started slow but our guys really responded.”

DHS came out strong in the second half, taking the opening drive 76 yards in nine plays.

Sophomore running back Christopher Franklin led the way rushing 25 yards on five carries, including a 14-yard run for a score.

Daphne converted twice on third down, one a 23-yard pass play from Chance Newman to Myles Henderson and another a 13-yard strike from Newman to Christian Williams.

Then a Pirate penalty on second-and-7 gave Daphne a first down at the Fairhope 14, where Franklin broke free for the score and Diego Guajardo’s PAT gave the Trojans a 14-0 lead with 8:38 to go in the third.

Daphne would strike again just over two minutes later after a three-and-out by the Pirates, followed by a short punt gave the Trojans good field position at the Fairhope 39.

It took just one play for Daphne to score, a 39-yard strike from Newman to Henderson and Guajardo’s extra point gave the Trojans a 21-0 lead with 6:12 to play in the third.

The two teams traded possessions without a first down before Fairhope would get the back, earning a couple of first downs, but the drive would stall near midfield and a fake punt attempt went awry, giving the Trojans the ball back in Pirate territory.

Two plays and a Trojan penalty backed Daphne up into their own territory at the 44, but on third-and-21, Newman hit Henderson in stride and the Daphne senior left the defense behind en route to pay dirt with the point-after making the score 28-0 in favor of the Trojans.

Newman threw three touchdowns, connecting on 12 of 24 passing in the contest for 239 yards with two interceptions, both coming in a crazy sequence at the end of the first half in which each team turned the ball over twice.

After both teams traded blows, playing to a scoreless tie in the first quarter, Daphne scored on a 14-yard TD strike from Newman to Letarius Battiste.

Fairhope then fumbled the ball away following a 10-yard completion, but Newman was intercepted in the endzone from the Pirate 30 by Starr Hutcherson. Daphne’s Alex Blubaugh intercepted Dylan Casstevens on the very next play and the Trojans were able to get two running plays off before Newman hit Henderson for an apparent touchdown from the 1.

But the play was called back because of offsetting penalties, an illegal procedure call against the Trojans and a roughing the passer call against the Pirates to put the ball back on the 1 where Terrance Gray intercepted a Newman pass giving the Pirates the ball on their own 2 with just seconds left in the half.

Devin Mitchell entered the game at quarterback , running three plays to end the half, then stayed in the game the entire second half for the Pirates, completing 6 of 13 passes for 70 yards in the final two quarters of play.

Darnell Bell led the Pirate rushing attack with 49 yards on 14 carries, but was the only Pirate with positive rushing yardage in the game.

The Trojans had just 76 yards rushing to go with Newman’s 239 yards passing, led by Franklin, who had 34 yards on 11 carries. Battiste had 18 yards on four carries, while Jay Pogue added 17 yards on five carries.

For King the win kept a string alive dating back to when he was a standout player for the Trojans.

“When I played it was all about Daphne-Fairhope and I’ve never lost to them,” he said. “I asked my players this week if they could do me a favor and keep that streak alive and they kept up their end of the bargain.”

Both the Trojans (3-2, 2-1) and the Pirates (0-5, 0-3) take a week off before returning to Regional play at home Sept. 30 with Daphne taking on B.C. Rain in 6A Region 1 play and Fairhope hosting the Baker Hornets in 7A Region 1 action.