FAIRHOPE — The Davidson Warriors outran the Fairhope Pirates 42-10 Friday night on W.C. Majors Field in Class 7A Region 1 action. Coastal Carolina commit DJ Butler supplied half of Davidson’s six rushing touchdowns on the night.

The Pirates suffered their fourth straight setback and fell to 0-2 in region play entering an open week. Fairhope head coach Tim Carter said that with some of the bumps and bruises on the team, the bye comes with good timing.

“Our kids don’t quit. They’re going to keep playing. We didn’t come out early and play with a lot of passion early in the game, but they had a little something to do with that,” Carter said after the game. “We’re really banged up and we’ll get some guys back hopefully, but we’ve got some young guys that are trying to step up so we have a lot to figure out. We have a bye week, which probably comes at a really good time, and we’ll kind of get this thing turned around a little bit.”

Daniell punches in Pirate touchdown

One of the bright spots for the hosts came in the third frame when quarterback Jackson Robertson drove the offense down the field 58 yards in only 6 plays. He connected twice with North Alabama commit Ameyr Adams for 13- and 15-yard hookups on top of running back Preston Godfrey’s 17 rushing yards on 3 carries.

Facing a 2nd and Goal from the 9-yard line, Robertson faked a handoff then found Harvard commit Sanders Daniell who came off his block, hauled in the reception and dove into the end zone through a pair of Warrior defenders. The touchdown was part of a 4-catch, 36-yard night for the Pirates’ Harvard-bound tight end.

Warriors pound the rock

Davidson senior Anthony Rabb opened the scoring on a 10-yard rush that capped a 13-play, 80-yard drive. The touchdown also came on Davidson’s fourth third-down conversion of the series but Carter owned that responsibility as Fairhope’s defensive play caller.

“Our kids tried hard, we got outcoached and outhustled and that’s my fault. Rick (Cauley, the Warriors’ head coach) and them had a great game plan and it was kind of out of the box,” Carter said. “They just out physical-ed us and we did not play very well defensively, and we have been playing good defense so that’s on me since I’m the defensive coordinator so it lives with me.”

Rabb also grabbed a 25-yard rushing touchdown and Quinteras Wheeler provided a 10-yard rushing score to complement Bulter’s 3 touchdowns from 35, 2 and 52 yards out. Butler, a 6-foot, 190-pound running back committed to Coastal Carolina, served as the Warriors’ quarterback out of their Wing-T formation.

Short-term memory loss key to bye week

Despite an extra week before retaking the field for action, Carter said the Pirates will use the open Friday as an opportunity to get back to basics ahead of an Oct. 5 date with the Foley Lions.

“We’ll learn from our mistakes and then we’ll start working on some fundamental stuff and see if we can’t get a little better at blocking and tackling and see if I can’t get them lined up in the right place, I don’t think I did a very good job of that tonight,” Carter said. “This ain’t the first loss of my career so hopefully we can get a W soon.”

Up next

Fairhope fell to 1-4 overall and 0-2 in Class 7A Region 1 play with an open week on next Friday’s docket. The Foley Lions, who also sit 0-2 in the region standings, will serve as the Pirates’ next opponent after they had a bye week this Friday night.

Foley will take on Class 6A No. 1 Saraland next week in non-region action.

“I think the bye week could be good, we’ve got a JV game and some different things so we’ve just got to regroup,” Carter said. “Every game on our schedule is difficult. We’ve got a lot of tests to come so we’ll just keep battling and see if we can make some improvement.”

Money quote

“Ain’t no quit in them,” Carter said.

Other Week 5 final scores

Baker 33, Daphne 20

Baldwin County 20, Mattie T. Blount 13

Gulf Shores 44, LeFlore 0

Jackson 35, Bayside Academy 0

Saraland 66, Robertsdale 0

Spanish Fort 8, Theodore 3

St. Michael 42, Satuma 8

T.R. Miller 27, Orange Beach 14