FAIRHOPE — Despite a 27-0 loss to Clarke County in the program’s first-ever varsity home game, Bayshore Christian head football coach Phil Lazenby had positive takeaways from Thursday night’s contest.

“In the first half, I thought we played about as well as we could play. And I was very, very pleased with their effort. Second half – the problem is we don’t have enough players,” Lazenby said after the game. “We’ve got nine people going both ways. It’s just that they get so worn out that the second half, you can see the difference. (Clarke County) came out hitting on all cylinders and we were dead.”

It wasn’t only Lazenby who saw a solid first half out of the Eagles who only trailed 7-0. Clarke County head football coach Rob Carter told Lazenby his team was a playoff-caliber squad.

“Coach he told me, ‘That first half, y’all were as good as anybody we played,’” Lazenby said of his exchange with Carter. “And I said, ‘Well, it takes to halves to do it,’ and we ran out of juice early.”

Stapleton, defense shined early

Lazenby credited the defensive unit’s effort for some of the early momentum built by Bayshore Christian. Although the Bulldogs’ first play from scrimmage went 55 yards to the doorstep of the end zone, the Eagles came up with two goal-line stands before Ethan Henson opened the scoring for the visitors.

“We mixed up the defenses well, (defensive coordinator) David Stapleton did a great job with the defense,” Lazenby said. “I thought we played well at the goal line. Just couldn’t keep them out.”

Hope, Crooms pace offense

On the other side of the ball, junior Andrew Hope and senior Nate Crooms helped pace the Eagles’ offense but were unable to hit pay dirt.

Hope led the way with 91 rushing yards on 14 carries and was complemented by senior Brooks Jones who finished with 25 rushing yards on 9 carries according to unofficial stats.

“We’ve got to be able to put the ball in the end zone. We can get all the yards we want out here, it doesn’t do us any good,” Lazenby said.

Although Crooms connected with classmate Jack Wheeler on a 38-yard passing connection, it served as the quarterback’s lone completion on 9 attempts.

“He’s good, he’s a really good player overall. He’s one of our leaders and he always keeps his head up, he’s never down and he’s always positive,” Lazenby said of Crooms. “I’m really pleased with his efforts, but we just have to give him some more time to throw the ball.”

Eagles relish first home game

No matter what, it was a historic occasion as the Bayshore Christian football team played its first home game as a varsity program and Lazenby said he felt thankful at the end of it all.

“I thought it was great, this is a great venue. Really thankful to the City of Fairhope for letting us play on these Thursday nights,” Lazenby said. “I was happy for the kids, I was proud for them and we had a really good crowd.”

His message to that crowd on hand leaned on the roster size.

“I hope they see we’ve got some kids that want to play football, and that we need more,” Lazenby said.

Up next

The Eagles moved to 1-1 overall and 0-1 within Class 2A Region 1 with an away game against St. Luke’s scheduled for Week 5. The Wildcats are bringing their 1-1 overall record and 0-1 region mark into tomorrow’s meeting with Central-Hayneville.

Clarke County improved to 2-2 overall and 2-0 in region play with a home game against the 2-0 J.U. Blacksher Bulldogs on tap for next week.

Money quote

“Kids’ effort was great. Somehow, some way, we’ve got to find a way to get them off the field for three or four plays so that they can have a little bit of rest,” Lazenby said.