FOLEY, Ala. — The Foley Lions had to weather a second-half storm surge by the Alma Bryant Hurricanes, improving to 3-2 on the season with a 35-21 victory Friday night at Ivan Jones Stadium in Foley.

Foley scored 21 points in 8 minutes, 9 seconds to open the contest, then added a touchdown with 2 1/2 minutes remaining in the half to take a 28-0 lead.

The Hurricanes would not break up so easily, however, scoring with just over 30 second to play in the half, maintaining momentum by recovering an onside kick.

Although missing a 43-yard fieldgoal at the halftime buzzer to leave the score at 28-7, Bryant marched 70 yartds in eight plans to start the second half, cutting the lead to 28-14, then stopped the Lions on the Hurricane 4-yard line before going the length of the field to narrow the margin to a touchdown to open the final period of play.

Foley would come right back with points of their own to make the score 35-21, held the Hurricanes without a first down defensively before missing a 27-yard fieldgoal with just under a minute to play in the contest.

Bryant took over at their own 20 and after a five-yard penalty pushed the ball back to the 15, threw an interception to end any hope of a final comeback to give Foley the victory.

"I'm glad to see we came out and played hard right out of the gate," said Foley Head Coach Ralph Watson. "After last week, that's something we really wanted to emphasize. But we let a couple of opportunities slip by us. We had a couple of touchdowns called back because of penalties. Alma Bryant is a good football team and they took advantage."

The Lions controlled much of the contest with a strong running attack, led by Kalif Koen, who had 190 yards on 16 carries and Joseph Brister, who added 92 yards on 15 carries. Each had a pair of touchdown runs, Koen scoring on runs of 57 and 51 yards, while Brister had scoring runs of 25 and 10 yards. Foley QB Maison Taylor also completed a nine-yard pass to Demarcus Bingham in the contest for a score.

"That's something we're definitely going to do," Watson said. "We have two strong running backs and that's our plan, to establish the run and stay with it and that worked well for us tonight."

Bryant quarterback Connor Cramer completed 12 of 21 passes for 183 yards in the contest, with receivers Zachary Delafosse, (4 for 92) and Jeremy Ford, (7 for 80) combining for 11 of the 12 catches for 172 yards, each with a score. Justice Bowie was a workhorse carrying the football for the Hurricanes, with 31 rushes for 117 yards and a score.

But a trio of interceptions by the Lion defense, one by Corey Christensen which stopped the Hurricanes first drive of the contest and gave the Lions a short field at the Bryant 30, setting up Foley's second score; one a touchdown saving grab by Caleb Autrey in the Bryant endzone; and one by Chrisun Adams, effectively ending the contest, made a big difference in the game for Foley.

The Lions return to 6A Region 2 play taking on the Baldwin County High Tigers (0-5, 0-3) next week at home, while Bryant (1-4, 1-1) stays in non-Regional action taking on 5A LeFlore (2-3, 1-2 in 5A Region 1) at home in action Friday, Sept. 30.