Spanish Fort 8, Daphne 7

Toros’ special teams score all eight points in class 6A Region 1 victory

Tony Whitehead, GCM Sports
Posted 9/2/17

The Trojans scored early on a keeper by quarterback Chance Newman and led 7-0, then 7-3, then 7-5 until the final seconds of the game when the Toros capped their final drive with...

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Spanish Fort 8, Daphne 7

Toros’ special teams score all eight points in class 6A Region 1 victory

Posted

DAPHNE, Ala. — The Trojans scored early on a keeper by quarterback Chance Newman and led 7-0, then 7-3, then 7-5 until the final seconds of the game. The Toros capped their final drive with a game-winning, walk-off Matthew Quinn field goal of 18 yards.

Spanish Fort’s 8-7 win at Jubilee Stadium puts the Toros in the Class 6A Region 1 win column while Daphne falls to 0-1 in the highly competitive region. Quinn kicked a 50-yarder earlier and the Toros’ punt-return squad also got a safety in between.

"Special teams was the difference," said Spanish Fort head coach Ben Blackmon. “We had a blocked punt and two field goals. That was pretty much it, but sometimes that is all it takes.”

After the safety made it 7-5 in the fourth period, SFHS got the ball back at their 46 and drove 52 yards (including a facemask penalty on DHS) with big gains by running back Conner Hegan. But Daphne’s defense stiffened at their one-yard line to force the fourth-down and goal-to-go field goal try with three seconds left.

Daphne head coach Kenny King said his team (coming off a 3-0 win at Davidson) is committing too many errors and coming up too short, too often.

“We are just stopping ourselves a lot on offense. We get a little something happening and then have a penalty or lose yardage on a play,” he said. “We’ve got to eliminate those silly mistakes. We’ll go back and keep working until we get them fixed. Hats off and congratulations to Spanish Fort. They played hard.”

Quinn’s 50-yarder was a career longest. (He hit a 49-yarder against Saraland on ESPN last year. Blackmon said he feels confident of scoring three anywhere from near or inside the opponent’s 40-yard line with Quinn ready.

"That is how much confidence we have in Matthew. Once we got inside the 20 on that last drive, I just wanted to run clock and kick it at the end because I didn't want to kick off to Daphne's return guys."

Both teams face Region 1 opposition next. The Toros (1-1) are on The Hill Sept. 8 for their first home game hosting Gulf Shores (0-2) led by former Blackmon assistant Matt Blake in the annual California Dreaming Classic. The Trojans (1-1) travel to Spartan Stadium at Saraland (2-0).