DAPHNE – Bayside Academy’s Joey Jones hit a 20-yard field goal with 45.9 seconds remaining to lift the Admirals over the St. Michael Catholic Cardinals, 17-14, in the teams’ region opener Friday night on Freedom Field.

Even though the visiting Cardinals blocked one of Jones’ attempts near the end of the third quarter, he said that was not on his mind when he trotted out.

“No, forgot about it,” Jones said of the earlier miss. “We do it in practice every day so (the game winner) was kind of routine. It wasn’t that far so I felt pretty confident.”

Similarly, Bayside Academy head coach Phil Lazenby made no hesitation to go to the all-state soccer player with the game on the line.

“I have enough confidence to send him from 50 yards,” Lazenby said. “The hold and the snap were much better, a lot quicker. We felt like the snap was slow on the first one and we had it blocked.”

Joey Jones nails a 20-yard field goal to put Bayside Academy ahead of St. Michael 17-14 with 45.9 seconds to play. Ain’t over yet #ALHSFB pic.twitter.com/XF4Rv6xpmy

— Gulf Coast Media Sports (@GCMSportsAL) September 3, 2022

St. Michael rallies with 97-yard scoop and score, blocked field goal

The game only came down to the wire after the Cardinals tied the game 43 seconds into the fourth quarter to cash in on the blocked field goal. Josh Murphy found Arrington Faiupu to provide the equalizing score after Clay Barr returned a fumble 97 yards for a touchdown with 1:42 left in the third.

“We fought the whole time, but it wasn’t good enough. We made too many mistakes to beat a sound team like Bayside is,” St. Michael head coach Philip Rivers said. “They made a few mistakes, they turned it over which is unusual. We ran it back for a touchdown and blocked a field goal but we just didn’t play well enough to win.”

Moore scores on 91-yard end around

Facing third down with less than a minute to play before halftime, wide receiver Tait Moore took a reverse handoff to the outside and scampered 91 yards to pay dirt to give the Admirals a 14-0 lead at the break. Sammy Dunn connected with Damien Tate on a 25-yard passing touchdown to open the scoring with 6:03 left in the second.

Moore said he had a similar run last week but cut it up. This time, he broke off a block and would not be stopped.

“Last week, I cut one up inside and this week I was looking for it but I got a great block by Jacob Stewart and I saw open field and I just started running,” Moore said. “Just tried not to get caught, I had someone run up behind me, I felt his arm touch my leg but I made it.”

Bayside Academy secures first region win, third straight 3-0 start despite young roster

With the three-point win, the Admirals secured their first win in Region 1 and also locked in their third consecutive 3-0 start to the regular season.

Before the season, Lazenby noted the inexperience of many of the players on his roster but after three games, Bayside Academy remains undefeated.

“Huge for us because we know it’s going to be a battle in our region,” Lazenby said. “A win like this gives us a lot of confidence and our team is so young that they don’t know to be afraid of anything. The average age is about 15; eight freshmen played tonight, five started.”

“Still a long way to go but to start out 1-0 against one of our biggest rivals was very good,” said Moore, a junior. “This was a very important game, ever since we got our schedule this one was marked on our calendar so this was a great win.”

Bayside fans storm the field to celebrate with team

With college football back in full swing, the Admiral faithful took a page out of their fans’ playbook and burst onto the field to celebrate the win with their team.

Before Jones’ go-ahead attempt, the student section exited the stands and ran to the fence just outside the track to cheer on their kicker. On the other end, they did the same to provide pressure on the Cardinals’ kicking team then stormed the field in elation as the clock hit triple zeros.

“It was awesome because we all ran off after we made it and they were all cheering us on so it was fun,” Jones said of the make. “We worked hard for this, so it was fun (to celebrate).”

Lazenby closing in on 200th career victory

Threes were wild coming into Friday’s matchup and with the win, Lazenby now sits only three wins away from 200 for his career. However, he was quick to bring up the other side of his overall record.

“I think that means I’ve been coaching a long time,” Lazenby said. “Everybody always looks on one side of the dash, but I’ve also got a lot of losses on the other side too.”

Despite the 197-103 mark in 26 years where 16 have been spent at Bayside Academy, Lazenby said Friday’s win ranks highly in his memory.

“I think of a lot of games I’ve coached here, and that was probably one of the most exciting,” he said.

Up next

Bayside Academy will hit the road to face the Wilcox Central Jaguars, who opened with a 70-0 loss to T.R. Miller tonight, next week while St. Michael will return home to face the Escambia County Blue Devils who beat Satsuma 55-15.

Other Baldwin County final scores

Blount 42, Robertsdale 24

Daphne 25, Alma-Bryant 0

Fairhope 43, Choctawhatchee 38

Foley 43, MGM 42 (OT)

Gulf Shores 22, Faith Academy 12

Orange Beach 31, Jackson 14

Spanish Fort 42, Baldwin County 7

Williamson 20, Elberta 0