For a guy who’d just helped his team to a 30-29 overtime win in a region game by scoring two touchdowns and catching a pair of two-point conversions – all in the fourth quarter – Carter Davis wasn’t the happiest Gulf Shores Dolphin in the post-game jubilation.

Coach Mark Hudspeth encouraged Davis and his teammates to head off to celebrate with teammates and family on their homecoming night.

“Let's get to the locker room quickly and celebrate all night with your parents and friends and families,” Hudspeth said while closing out his post-game talk.

Asked after if he was ready to celebrate, Davis shook his head.

“I can’t celebrate this because I played like trash,” Davis, a West Virginia commitment, said. “It wasn’t the best.”

OK, it didn’t start out the best. 

Davis, dubbed the fastest man in Alabama, was doing his thing earlier in the game, streaking down the middle of the field and looking skyward as a pass from lefty quarterback Major Hudspeth came spiraling out of the lights into his waiting hands.

But on the first play of the second quarter, Davis mishandled this sure touchdown grab with Blount already leading 9-0. Later, Davis would score on a 39-yard sweep with 9:02 left in the game before catching the two-point conversion to give the home folks hope by cutting the lead to 23-15.

He was back again with just 43.9 seconds left, punching in a one-yard touchdown to bring the Dolphins within two at 23-21. 

A 57-yard punt by Benton Brereton downed at the three set up the late score. Blount eventually had to punt from the eight and netted only 14 yards to the Leopards 22 on the kick.

Four plays later – three of them sweeps by Davis to the right – the Dolphins were a two-point conversion from tying the game and potentially forcing overtime.

Hudspeth somehow found Davis streaking across the back of the end zone to catch the conversion and tie the game at 23-all. 

One referee signaled catch, a second said no catch and the first final ruling was deemed “no catch,” which was met by unhappy reactions from the Gulf Shores sidelines.

The officials then conferenced a long time before deciding, ‘alright, he did catch it,’ prompting equally unhappy reactions from the Blount sidelines.

Overtime ensued, and on the first play Blount sophomore quarterback Jaden Mills faked a handoff to Keevaughn Johnson – a play the Leopards battered the Dolphins with all night – kept the ball, scampered on a keeper right and scored after eluding a Gulf Shores defender.

Down 29-23, the entire middle of the Gulf Shores D-line caved in the Blount offensive line to swat away the PAT attempt, leaving the Dolphins one score and an extra point from putting their first half struggles behind and getting the improbable win.

Dolphin star Elijah Malone matched Blount’s one-play overtime drive, racing to the three before Leopards converged on him, but his teammates joined the scrum to push him across the goal line for a tie score.

“I got a good push from my O line,” Malone said. “Thanks to them. I was like, push me, push me, push me.”

When Zion Davis’ low-flying PAT gained enough height to cross the bar, the Dolphins led for the first time on the last play of the game, 30-29, sparking celebrations for many Dolphins.

Davis is 17, it’s homecoming and there’s a school dance the following night. He’ll celebrate somewhat, but not without reflecting upon what transpired and what work is needed to avoid potentially disastrous starts moving forward.

“I'm going to have fun at homecoming,” Davis said, his face still stern. “But that's it. I'm going straight home. Not doing anything outside of that.”

Coach Hudspeth praised his team’s character but said work on issues that led to the early deficit and sometimes uninspired play would begin on Monday.

“We can't have any more issues, everybody got it?” he asked his team. “We saw what happens when we don't do the little things there in the first quarter and the first half. Let's rebound from that. But also, I'm really proud of the way we responded tonight.”

PRIMETIME PERFORMERS

Davis may be disappointed in his overall performance, but it’s hard to discount him scoring two touchdowns and catching a pair of two-point conversions.

Receiver/punter Benton Brereton broke the scoring drought for Gulf Shores by running under a long pass from harassed quarterback Major Hudspeth then adroitly avoiding defenders to cut the score to 17-7 early in the third quarter.

For Blount, Johnson pounded into Gulf Shores defenders all night and scored on runs of 21 and 17 yards, the latter saw the Leopards run an option play just one play after a Blount interception. Unofficially, he racked up 118 yards on 29 carries and two scores.

Blount defenders were chasing Major Hudspeth from the pocket all night, forcing one intentional grounding call and two interceptions both of which were converted into touchdowns.

DEFINING MOMENTS

One guy was certainly looking out for the little things on at least two occasions. 

Brereton’s catch and run for 51 yards to finally get the Dolphins some points in the third quarter was one. His 57-yard punt to the Leopards’ three also led to the game-tying touchdown and two-point conversion in the final minute of regulation. From there, the Leopards gained four yards, stymied on third down by a tackle for no gain by Malone. A 14-yard punt followed.

Blocking the Leopard PAT in overtime was the biggest defining moment, perhaps, after Zion Davis’ successful overtime PAT proved to be the game winner.

For Blount, a big moment was the option play for a 17-yard score after Hudspeth’s second interception to counter Gulf Shores’ score by Brereton. It pushed the advantage to 23-7 with 11 minutes left in the game.

A second big play was not a happily defined moment for the Leopards, when after a prolonged meeting the officials declared that Davis had indeed caught the tying two-point conversion for a 23-23 game with 43.9 seconds left. Had the catch not been allowed, Blount would have traveled back to Eight Mile with a win and tied for the lead in Region 1.

WHAT’S NEXT

Gulf Shores, now tied atop Class 5A Region 1 standings at 2-0 with Spanish Fort, travels for another region contest at Murphy on Sept. 18. Murphy is 1-1 in the region and beat Elberta 33-6 on Sept. 11.

Blount is now 1-1 in the region, 2-2 overall, and will host Spanish Fort on Sept. 18. The Toros beat Baldwin County, 28-0, in their most recent outing.