In a tense matchup between Baldwin County schools, Foley prevailed against Spanish Fort, 28-25, to achieve their first win of the Bryan Moore era on Friday, Aug. 28.
For a moment, the Lions were …
This item is available in full to subscribers.
Please log in to continue |
In a tense matchup between Baldwin County schools, Foley prevailed against Spanish Fort, 28-25, to achieve its first win of the Bryan Moore era on Friday.
For a moment, the Lions seemed to be taking care of business when they went up 21-7 at halftime.
But the Toros came roaring back in the second half, making it a one-possession game before Foley’s defense showed up big in a game decided by seconds.
“Big win for our kids. Man, they fought so hard,” Foley head coach Bryan Moore said. “They’ve earned it. Really, really proud of them and just a lot of hard work to get there. So proud of them.”
Despite falling short, Toros head coach Chase Smith, who was doing his coaching duties from the press box after undergoing surgery to remove blood clots from his arms, said he was proud of the resilience his team showed.
“I’m just being completely honest,” Smith said. “I know we lost the game, but I am extremely proud of this football team. I am extremely proud of the grit. We had a lot of things happen that they could have hung their head. We came out, we made adjustments, we challenged them after the half and they responded. I hate that we came up short, but what I saw was a team that just refuses to give up and that’s what this team is. They just proved it to me again and we just took a really big step.”
In the first half, Foley seemed to be in control.
The Lions started the scoring with a 4-yard touchdown pass to Brayden Garcia over four minutes into the first quarter.
Before the Toros could come up with a response, they fumbled the ball on their opening possession of the game, with Foley’s defense recovering.
Luckily for the Toros, their defense managed to keep Foley away from the red zone for a while.
However, Spanish Fort’s offense once again fumbled the ball away at the 2:15 mark of the first quarter, and this time Foley was able to capitalize with a 24-yard touchdown pass to Xy Green, giving the Lions a 14-0 lead.
In the second quarter, the Toros scored for the first time with Jaylyn “JJ” Thibodeaux completing a 21-yard touchdown to wide receiver Corbin Fanning.
Despite this, Foley’s Jaxson Dixon answered quickly by taking a pass 84 yards to the endzone to make it 21-7, a score that remained at halftime.
Although it was down by two scores coming out of halftime, Spanish Fort came out swinging.
Brandon Marinho opened the scoring in the second half with a touchdown catch from Thibodeaux to cut the lead to 21-14.
On Foley’s ensuing possession, Lions quarterback Judah Spencer threw an interception to Toro defender Noah Stone at Foley’s 32-yard line. Stone also recorded an interception during his team's win over Daphne last week.
Spanish Fort wasn’t able to make it to the endzone, but they did kick one through the uprights to cut the lead to 21-17 at the 6:14 mark ofthe third quarter.
Facing a tight game in the fourth quarter, Foley ran the ball into the endzone to give it some insurance at 28-17 with more than ten minutes still left to play.
However, Spanish Fort’s offense easily made its way down the field. Ya’Lin Lee rushed in for a 18-yard touchdown, and that was followed by a successful two point conversion from Thibodeaux to make it 28-25 with 3:25 remaining.
With Foley trying to kill time off the game clock, they were short by literal inches when trying to convert on fourth down, giving Spanish Fort an opportunity to take the lead with 44 seconds left.
Inside Foley’s 20-yard line, Thibodeaux would connect to receiver Bo Farmer on a deep, much-needed connection to bring the Toros to the five-yard line.
With time running out and the game on the line, Foley’s defense came up big, preventing Spanish Fort from scoring on massive stops on third and fourth down to secure the victory for the Lions.
“Disappointed in us running the football,” Moore said about the second half. “They took the first drive in the second half, drove it and stole the momentum from us. That was hard and then had 10 unanswered points. That was hard, but for us to come and finish, push it back to a two-score game, really proud of them. The fight at the end, the fourth-and-goal stop, just a super moment for our kids.”
“Towards the end, it was back and forth,” Smith said. “Obviously, earlier in the game, turnovers, couple penalties really stalled us, but like I said, the second half, that’s just an incredible high school football game. Our kids never stopped fighting, and that’s all I saw the whole second half. I saw two high school football teams playing their guts out and I saw my team refuse to give up.”
Following Friday night’s game, both teams currently stand at 1-1 on the season.
Up next for Foley, it hits the road to face Fairhope on Friday.
“Every game’s a new game,” Moore said. “It’s a battle here and it’s a battle with our kids because we had one and we just got to learn to win. This was a big step forward. It wasn’t pretty but it was a big win for our program. Big win for our city and fans. Just really, again, proud and excited."
Meanwhile, Spanish Fort will stay on the road next week, visiting Elberta for a matchup.
“We’re going to springboard off of this and we’re going to correct the mistakes that we made because we made the mistakes that put us in some holes,” Smith said. “We’re going to correct them, and all these kids want to do is learn and work. I love this team, I love this coaching staff, and I’m proud. I’m proud of the way we fought.”
