Spanish Fort receiver Javon Brown heads for the end zone after a pass from Tyler Johnston.

• Baldwin County, Daphne among 14-team field in annual competition hosted by Foley

FOLEY—McGill-Toolen Catholic topped Spanish Fort 19-17 to win the Gulf Coast Regional 7-on-7 tournament in Foley Friday. The Toros went up 9-0 early on a TD pass by incoming senior quarterback Tyler Johnston and defensive-stop points. But the Yellow Jackets then scored 19-straight points before Spanish Fort got back in it on a Johnston to Javon Brown TD pass. With 23 seconds to go, the Jackets held on for the championship and an automatic invitation to the National Select 7-on-7 tournament at Hoover this weekend. Spanish Fort already had an invitation to Hoover, but also qualified as the Regional runner-up.

Toros’ head coach Ben Blackmon, who brought two teams to the event said after a long hot day, his players got a lot of positives out of the tournament.

“We got a lot, a whole lot out of it today,” he said. “We got a lot of experience, a lot of kids got playing time. We traveled two teams here and gave the young guys some competition. The older guys competed. It came down to a play or two here and there. But ‘hats off’ to McGill. We just didn’t execute and they did.”

The Toros defeated  McGill 33-10 in the first meeting of the day and finished pool play 5-0, earning the No. 1 seed for the championship part of the event. They then beat Williamson 25-10 and Baldwin County 34-0 to advance to the final.

“We felt good coming in after beating them earlier, being unbeaten and the top seed,” Blackmon said. “But they made a couple of big plays and we let them get too far in front. I’m proud of the effort on offense and defense all around. Overall, we got some things accomplished and looking forward to competing at Hoover.”

McGill-Toolen head coach Caleb Ross said his No. 2 seed Jackets didn’t really change much for the second meeting with the Toros.

“We changed a few routes but mainly just stuck to what we’ve been doing,” he said. “Not really time to make adjustments in these tournaments.  We knew what had worked and what didn’t. But, we just got things going more consistently on offense and our defense did a better job in this one. They set a goal to replay Spanish Fort after they got us pretty good early this morning. The way we competed, I was proud of how we played.”

 Mc-T senior quarterback Paris Chambers connected with Alex Davis and Jackson Satterwhite for two TD passes and picked up two defensive stops for the difference in the final score.

 “Paris is having a great summer. I’m really proud of our defensive play in this game,” Ross said.

 The Yellow Jackets came back to earn the second seed in the championship bracket, then defeated Niceville, Fla. (33-8) and Lowndes County, Ga. (24-22) to advance to the championship.

 “I love those close games,” Ross added. “I know this is just 7-on-7, but it’s good to see that when your kids are in a competitive environment and a close game, they are going to fight for their lives and compete to win.”

 Baldwin County’s Tigers finished 4-1 in pool play and advanced to the championship bracket as the No. 4 seed. The Tigers then earned wins over Scotlandville Magnet (23-22) and Long Beach (26-17) but came up short 34-0 to Spanish Fort in the semifinals. Mandeville, La. claimed the third seed but was eliminated by Lowndes County 29-25 in the quarterfinals.

BCHS head coach Nathan McDaniel said the loss to county and region rival SFHS was disappointing, but overall his team made a good showing.

“I would say a top-four finish in a tournament of this caliber of competition is pretty good,” he said. “Of course, I told my kids it was a good day, but we’re never going to give them a big pat on the back and a Snicker bar for a third-place finish. I’m proud of them, absolutely. But our ultimate goal is to win championships and we’re getting there. Saw a lot of good stuff today. Accomplished a lot. Just need to be more consistent on some things and keep working hard.”

Daphne went 3-2 to take the fifth seed in the early rounds, but got bumped to the consolation bracket after a 20-16 loss to Lowndes County. The Trojans defeated Gulf Breeze in the semifinals 28-12, but lost a high-scoring close one to sixth seed St. Martin (Miss.) in the consolation final 31-30. Daphne had defeated St. Martin earlier in the seeding rounds.Martin earlier in the seeding rounds. 

Daphne head coach Glenn Vickery saw some good things from his younger players who picked up valuable experience.

“We got a chance to get a lot of reps and playing time for some young receivers,” he said. “We had about four kids who have never been on a varsity field before. So, it’s a great learning experience for us. Of course, we wanted to win a couple more games than we did, but overall we had a pretty good day. We will just keep working hard and improving, focusing on more consistency, more precise timing on some routes and overall execution.”

 2015 Gulf Coast Regional Championship Division Scores

First Round

Williamson 34, Spanish Fort B-team 23

Baldwin County 23, Scotlandville 22

Lowndes County 20, Daphne 16

Mandeville 33, Gulf Breeze 32

Niceville 17, Pensacola Catholic 16

Quarterfinals

Spanish Fort A-team 25, Williamson 10

Baldwin County 26, Long Beach 17

Lowndes County 29, Mandeville 25

McGill-Toolen 33, Niceville 8

Semifinals

Spanish Fort A-team 34, Baldwin County 0

McGill-Toolen 24, Lowndes County 22

Final

McGill-Toolen 19, Spanish Fort 17