ORANGE BEACH — Bayside Academy senior Tait Moore led the Admirals to a 35-14 victory over the Orange Beach Makos with two of his team’s five touchdowns in Class 4A Region 1 action Friday.

Moore catches pair of scores

Bayside Academy’s leading receiver came through with two of three touchdown passes on the night from sophomore quarterback Sammy Dunn. It marked Moore’s second multi-receiving touchdown effort of the season.

Shortly after Moore’s first touchdown catch, the Admiral defense struck quickly with a recovered fumble by senior Thomas Cunningham who returned it the length of the field for a second Bayside Academy touchdown in less than five minutes.

Other key plays for the Admirals included a fumble recovery by senior Wills Norton which led to a touchdown pass to junior Miles Uter. Senior Teague Broadhead also took a green light to the promised land on a touchdown rush to help Bayside Academy get back in the win column after a pair of losses in region play.

Admiral head coach proud of effort

After the game clock hit triple zeroes and the horn sounded the end of the game, Admiral head football coach Barrett Trotter was happy to see the score in his team’s favor after the way they came out of the gates.

"I was proud of our team," Trotter said. "We really had a slow start where we kicked ourselves in the foot. So, we finally started getting points on the board and started stopping having stupid penalties."

When he addressed the players in a postgame talk, Trotter was similarly pleased with the sportsmanship efforts on and off the field.

“Playing the game we love, the right way, was a heck of a lot of fun,” he said.

Makos' resilience and senior celebration

Although both of Orange Beach’s touchdowns came in the fourth quarter from senior classmates Matthew Swoboda and Sam Lee, Mako head football coach Jamey DuBose saw positives and areas of improvement Friday night.

"We still made a lot of mistakes," DuBose said. "The fumbles hurt us in the second quarter and put us behind and, you know, turnovers, but our kids played hard all year."

Orange Beach also celebrated its senior night by honoring the teammates who have contributed to the team in their last year as a Mako.

The head coach noted that the 12 seniors on this year’s squad have been a part of the team since the program started under current Spanish Fort head coach Chase Smith in 2020.

"We love our seniors," DuBose said. "They have been very, very instrumental in this program to get to where it's going, and they are a brick in the foundation."

Up next

Bayside Academy bounced back from consecutive losses to improve to 5-2 overall and 3-2 in Class 4A Region 1. The Admirals are set to host the Escambia County Blue Devils (5-3, 2-3) in Week 9.

The Orange Beach Makos fell to 0-6 overall and 0-4 in region play with a road trip to face the Wilcox Central Jaguars (1-6, 0-5) scheduled for Friday, Oct. 20.

Money quote

“Records don’t define football,” said DuBose. “They don’t define us and this team has got some really great character kids these days.”