FOLEY, Alabama — For the second year in a row, the Foley Lions won the Blue-Gold Trophy in dramatic fashion, scoring with just over a minute to play Friday night to claim a 17-13 victory over the Fairhope Pirates on Lester Smith Field at Ivan Jones Stadium.

“My hat’s off to Fairhope,” said Foley Coach Tad Niblett, who is now 3-0 against the Pirates, adding a playoff victory to the mix in his first year as head coach of the Lions. “They came out with a good game plan and they were ready to play. I thought we came out a little flat, but I challenged my players at halftime and they stepped up to the challenge.”

Following an injury to quarterback Chris Armstrong, who left the game after rushing for 39 yards on 20 carries and completed 7 of 10 passing with one interception for 72 yards, fellow senior David Hendricks stepped up, leading the Lions on a 16-play, 63-yard drive which chewed up almost six minutes of the clock.

Hendricks completed 7 of 9 passes on the drive for 35 yards, including a seven-yard touchdown pass to Branton Morgan to put the Lions ahead for the first time since the 7:39 mark of the first quarter. Dalton Taylor’s successful point-after meant the Pirates would have to score a touchdown with 1:09 left on the clock.

Hendricks added three rushes for 13 yards on the drive, including an eight-yard, third-down conversion run to open the drive. Hendricks also completed a pass to Morgan to convert a third-and-four to the Pirate 21-yard-line.

The drive would stall at the 14, but a Pirate penalty when Taylor lined up to kick a 30-yard fieldgoal on fourth-and-four put the Lions back in business at the Pirate 9.

Following an incomplete pass in the endzone, Hendricks saw daylight, but was tripped up following just a two-yard gain, setting up third-and-goal from the 7. The senior QB then found his target in Morgan, who side-stepped a would-be tackler en route to pay dirt to give the Lions the lead.

“Both Chris and David bring something different to the table for us,” Niblett said of the two quarterbacks, who traded duties throughout the Lions opening contest against Robertsdale Aug. 19. “David made some big plays for us at receiver tonight and when Chris got hurt, he stepped up like the senior he is and led us to victory. Really all of our guys stepped it up in the second half.”

After Taylor knocked through a 29-yard fieldgoal to give the Lions a 3-0 lead with 9:34 left in the opening period, the Pirates came back to take the lead with a 29-yard touchdown strike from quarterback Dylan Casstevens to receiver Tanner Deeds. Cole Deeds booted the extra point to give Fairhope a 7-3 lead with 7:39 left in the opening period.

It was a lead the Pirates would not relinquish until just over a minute to go in the game, but the Lion defense would not give up another touchdown, holding Fairhope to two fieldgoals, a pair of 32-yarders, one with 4:29 to go in the half and the other with just 17 seconds left.

“Without our defense holding them to fieldgoals instead of touchdowns, we would not have gotten to that game-winning drive,” Niblett said. “Any time you can hold a team to three points rather than seven is a huge plus.”

After the two teams went scoreless to open the second half, the Lions cut the lead to 13-10 behind the passing and running of Armstrong and the running of Tyron Cosby, who completed the drive with a six-yard scoring run. Hendricks also had two big catches at the receiver position for the Lions on the drive, a 12-yarder and a 19-yarder, which put the Lions inside the Pirate Red Zone at the 17.

After the Lions’ game-winning scoring drive, Foley’s defense was able to hold Fairhope at bay. The Pirates started the drive at their own 20 following a touchback, but backed up all the way to their own 7 before an interference penalty on third down pushed the ball to the Pirate 22.

A 19-yard completion from Casstevens to Antonio Bracy pushed the ball to the Pirate 41 with 37 seconds to play, but the Lions would not give up another first down, taking over on downs with two ticks on the clock at the Pirate 40, and Hendricks took a knee from the victory formation to secure the win.

Pirate running back Darnell Bell led the Pirates with 107 yards on 19 carries and Casstevens completed 9 of 23 passes for 123 yards. After amassing 196 yards of total offense in the first half, including 101 yards passing and 95 yards rushing, the Pirates were held to just 75 yards in the second half. Bell had 87 of his 107 total yards in the first two periods of play.

After going 1 of 1 in the first half, Hendricks was 6 of 8 in the second for a total of 30 yards, caught three passes for 42 yards and rushed three times for 13 yards for the Lions.

After two weeks at home, the Lions (2-0, 1-0) will take to the road against 7A Region 1 rival Davidson at Ladd-Peebles Stadium, while the Pirates (0-2, 0-1), after two weeks on the road, will open their home schedule against 7A Region 1 rival Mary G. Montgomery.