DAPHNE, Alabama — The Trojans trailed Foley 39-24 with only 4 minutes, 10 seconds left in regulation at Jubilee Stadium Friday night, but Daphne quarterback T.J. Fleeton never doubted his team could score the 15 points needed to keep the game going. Fleeton, who was named the Rivalry Bowl MVP, led the Trojans to a 46-45 comeback win.

“We never quit,” he said. “This team gets it done, especially when we focus and play without mistakes. We hurt ourselves a little early in the game, but when we had to, we came back and played like champions. That's what we do.”

Daphne scored twice on back-to-back possessions and went for two to make it 39-39 with 14.8 seconds left. The Lions nearly reached field-goal range in the regulation time left but came up short.

In the overtime format, Foley scored first to take a 45-39 lead when quarterback Maison Taylor hit wide receiver Alontai Adams from 7-yards out on 3rd-and-goal. But the extra point was wide. Fleeton then found wide receiver Wheylan Tolbert on a 2nd-and-goal play for a 15-yard scoring pass and DHS place-kicker Tyler Cook hit the game-winning extra point.

“That's just good coaching on their part,” said Foley coach Todd Watson. “We had a chance to seal the game and didn't take advantage of it. So, that's bad coaching on my part. We have to finish all four quarters and we didn't get that done. But there's always something to learn out of it. I hope we learned to finish. We have to. It's up to us. “

The Lions had built a 19-point lead by the mid-point of the fourth quarter on the ground game of Cedrix Reed and the air-attack of Taylor-to-Adams. But the Trojans cut it by seven after Fleeton capped a 71-yard drive in five plays including his 2-yard keeper and Cook's point after touchdown to make it 36-24 with seven minutes left.

At 4:10 in the fourth, Foley's Jose Mendoza nailed a 45-yard field goal after the Lions burned off three minutes to suggest the Lions had the passing, the running and kicking to keep the lead in the 6A Region 2 contest. Time and one of the biggest offensive lines in the state were on their side.

But the Trojans went from their 32 to score on eight plays in 1:55 to make it 39-31 on a 26-yard Fleeton-to-Chris Sain TD. With 2:05 left Foley recovered the onside-attempt at the 50 and needed one, maybe two first downs to run out the clock. But the Daphne defense forced a 4th-and-five then tackled Reed for a loss. The Trojans took over on downs with no time outs remaining, but Fleeton scrambled for a first down to stop the clock at 24 seconds.

That's when the hook-and-ladder or hook-and-lateral came out of the bag and Fleeton hit Sain about nine yards deep on a come-back to the inside. But Sain made a perfect pitch to Wheylan Tolbert who was cutting opposite across the middle and took it in for the score to make it 39-37 with 14.8 seconds left. Fleeton's two-point conversion pass to Sain was good for the tie.

Again DHS went for the onside, but Foley maintained possession at midfield with eight seconds to go but could not get within Mendoza's range. A Hail Mary to the endzone was intercepted by Sain as regulation-time expired.

Daphne coach Glenn Vickery was proud of his players for never throwing in the towel.

“This is part of what you teach the kids,” he said. “Never give up. Never quit. Don't get down on yourself or on each other or look for excuses. Stay focused and look for a way to win. But what you really hope is that your kids learn from it. That's the main thing. I honestly love coach Watson and those guys and know it's hard to lose a game like that, but that's part of it. Foley obviously has a great team and had a very effective game plan tonight. They had some kids who played their hearts out. But I'm proud of our kids and out coaches for staying with it and giving it everything they had. When you give it all you've got and done your best, then win or lose, you will take something positive away from the effort.”

Daphne scored first on their opening drive of 58 yards when Fleeton hit Derrick Tolbert from 15 yards out. Foley then tied the game on their third possession with a 41-yard drive before the end of the first quarter.

The Lions took a 9-7 lead on a safety in the first half when the Trojans lost the snap in punt formation out of their endzone. A short DHS penalty kick then gave Foley a short field which they drove 54 yards and capped with a 9-yard TD pass to Adams for a half-time advantage of 16-7.

Daphne opened the third period with Ronnie Davis scoring from 14-yards out on a touchdown run and retook the lead on Cook's 32-yard field goal to make it a 17-16 game.

Vickery also said Cook showed a lot of steadiness under pressure.

“You can't get much more pressure that that, but Tyler and all the special teams players and coaches did a good job tonight. I'm proud of all of them.”

Fleeton finished with 201 yards off three touchdown passes and rushed for one. Reed also had four TDs, all rushing for 7 yards, 47 yards, 9 yards and 61 yards. He racked up 276 yards for the Lions.

Fleeton added that assistant coach Chad Stafford helps keep the team inspired.

“You always have to keep swinging,” he said. “Like coach (Chad) Stafford told us, 'You have to keep believing in here,'” Fleeton said pounding his chest. “'Deep in here and out here on the field, never quit, never give up.' And that's what coach Vickery tells us all the time, too. Keep playing no matter how backed up against the wall you get, if you give up, you might miss that little opportunity that turned it around.”

Stafford is also the team chaplain and a 1993 Daphne graduate who played baseball and football there. He and several others, including Joey “JoJo” Wolfe the team's long-time assistant manager were inducted into the 2012 DHS Hall of Fame Friday as well. Others inducted were William Boone “Bo” Eiland, Jr., Tyler D. Faison, John Mark Foster, Marsha Foster, Stephanie Cox Swanson and James “Bo” White who played football for former DHS coach Steve Savarese.