ROBERTSDALE – The Robertsdale Golden Bears opened Friday’s region game against the Spanish Fort Toros with a 13-play, 75-yard scoring drive that took nearly eight minutes off the clock by …
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ROBERTSDALE – The Robertsdale Golden Bears opened Friday’s region game against the Spanish Fort Toros with a 13-play, 75-yard scoring drive that took nearly eight minutes off the clock by the time Glen Williams jumped over the linemen for a 1-yard touchdown.
But the Toros settled in and “played our ball,” according to Spanish Fort head coach Chase Smith, to eventually register a 42-13 victory behind two touchdowns each from Jacob Godfrey (10- and 37-yard receptions) and Sawyer Wilson (6- and 10-yard rushes).
“They came out on fire and did a great job to get momentum,” Smith said. “Hats off to Kyle (Stanford, Robertsdale head coach), he does a great job and those kids were ready to play. They came out on fire and had all the momentum with a great crowd and support; it was something we had to overcome.”
Williams’ two touchdowns make it an eight-point game at halftime
With a 7-7 tie after one quarter, Godfrey caught his two touchdowns from Brayden Walker to give Spanish Fort a two-possession lead. But Williams provided his second touchdown of the night 43.8 seconds before halftime to make the Golden Bears’ deficit 21-13 at the break.
“They were aggressive up front so I knew they were going low and that if I jumped over the top, I’d have it,” Williams said of his acrobatic first touchdown.
The Robertsdale Golden Bears cap off an opening-drive score with this acrobatic, 1-yard run from Glen Williams to take a 7-0 lead over Spanish Fort with 4:06 left in the first quarter #ALHSFB @Robertsdalefb pic.twitter.com/Xam3ZxgBpB
— Gulf Coast Media Sports (@GCMSportsAL) October 15, 2022
His head coach said it was just another in a litany of solid outings while Williams has also been ascending as a leader.
“His performance was huge, he’s been very consistent all year,” Stanford said of Williams. “He’s becoming a bigger vocal leader and a leader by example and it’s really good to see him take that next step.”
Toros tinker during intermission
During the halftime break, Smith and the coaches calmly told the team to use a big kickoff return to spark the offensive takeover, and Spanish Fort did just that.
“Come out and open the second half off with a great return and get the momentum going on offense,” Smith said of the message. “As far as adjustments, we just did what we do and calmed down, played our ball and just took the momentum right back over.”
Walker confirmed the coaches had a simple game plan in the locker room and the team knew exactly what to do.
“They were telling us to just play our game, go out there and if we have fun and play football then we’ll win the game,” Walker said.
Toro signal-caller registers first career rushing touchdown
Walker got to have some fun of his own when he crossed the goal line on a 4-yard rush on the first play of the fourth quarter to record his first career rushing touchdown.
“I got the play call and I was like, ‘I have to hold onto the ball,’” Walker said. “I held onto the ball, went into the end zone and went to celebrate with my team.”
He added two throwing touchdowns to his close friend Godfrey who made some shifty moves on both receptions to leave defenders in the dust while he walked to pay dirt.
“Jake’s one of my best friends, we’ve grown up together these past few years and I can always trust he’s out there and he’ll go make a play,” Walker said. “It’s a huge asset to be able to throw it to him or hand it off to him – and he can block too, he’s so agile; he can do it all.”
Spanish Fort defense seals win with second-half shutout
To complement the offensive effort, which was bookended by an 18-yard touchdown run from Nehemiah Hixon, the Toro defense used a second-half shutout to seal the victory.
In the first half, Josiah Hixon grabbed an interception that killed Robertsdale’s second drive of the game when it was nearing the red zone to answer Spanish Fort’s first touchdown.
Both head coaches proud of squads
After all four quarters, both head coaches had pride in their team’s effort with time winding down in the regular season.
“I’m very proud of our kids for fighting; it has been a rough season, but they bring it every day,” Stanford said. “You see it on Saturdays when things don’t go so well for them, people just go and tank. But I never have to worry about our guys missing on Monday. We’re going to be there, back to work and that says a lot about their character and their parents and this community of just wanting to get back to work.”
“This was huge; a road, region win in a good hard-fought, four-quarter game against a team that really came out on fire and had a great game plan,” Smith said. “I’m proud of our guys for finding a way through some adversity again.”
Smith added that despite the amount of adversity his team has seen so far, The Toro Way has shown them the path.
“I hate all the adversity that’s been presented, but our kids have handled it all year and I’ve been very proud of that.”
Up next
Spanish Fort improved to 6-3 overall and 5-3 in Class 6A Region 1 with its final regular-season game against Murphy scheduled for next Friday at home. The Panthers beat Baldwin County 62-56 in a shootout Friday for their first region win.
Robertsdale fell to 0-8 overall and 0-7 in region with another home game set for next week against MGM. The Vikings earned a 14-9 win over Daphne Friday to snap a playoff drought.
Money quotes
“We feel a little bit better knowing we just put up a fight with Spanish Fort, now we know more about what we are capable of,” Williams said.
“That’s what we wanted to do; we knew if we struck early, we’d have a chance there,” Stanford said of the opening drive. “Extremely proud of our offensive line, especially early. Henry (Harvison, Golden Bear quarterback) stood in there and made some big throws.”
“This was a fun game, we had fun out there and that’s what I was trying to do,” Walker said.
“We have to finish strong; we gotta go back home and have a great game plan and have a great week of practice for these seniors and finish this off the right way,” Smith said.
Other Baldwin County final scores
Bayside Academy 66, Escambia County 48
Fairhope 37, Alma-Bryant 7
Foley 43, Davidson 41
Jackson 28, St. Michael 6 (Thursday, Oct. 13)
MGM 14, Daphne 9
Murphy 22, Baldwin County 18
Orange Beach 48, Wilcox Central 0
Vigor 42, Elberta 0
Wilcox Academy 61, Snook Christian 30