After the last two meetings between Fairhope and Spanish Fort came down to the wire, the Toros made sure it wouldn’t be that way again and ran away with a 42-6 win to open the season Thursday night.

Senior EJ King (3 from short yardage), senior Sawyer Wilson (1 yard) and junior quarterback Aaden Shamburger (86 yards) all scored rushing touchdowns, but it was Shamburger’s 26-yard scoring connection through the air with classmate Justin Bonner that set the tone on the second play from scrimmage.

Head coach Chase Smith said the quick strike had been the goal since the start of fall camp and the 35-6 halftime score was evidence of that.

“That's what we challenged them on all fall camp. We wanted to play faster. We wanted to start out and execute so we practiced that way,” Smith said after the game. “We really wanted to come out fast, and it happened that way. Couldn't be prouder of their execution early.”

Although the Fairhope Pirates mounted a scoring drive capped with an 8-yard touchdown throw from senior quarterback Jackson Robertson to junior Andres Hunt just six plays later, the point-after try was blocked and the Toro defense didn’t allow another point. Senior linebacker Bishop Burkhalter said the Spanish Fort coaching staff set them up well.

“Just to execute. We went over a lot of things last year that they did and our coaches had us really prepared,” Burkhalter said of the gameplan. “We just had to go out and execute. We’ve got a lot of stuff to clean up but it was a good game.”

Toros stands tall with goal-line stop

Fairhope knocked on the door in its first possession of the third quarter but the Toro defense came up big and junior Justin Vines helped force an incompletion on 4th and Goal from the 2-yard line.

Fairhope gets to the doorstep but is turned away with a pass breakup on 4th and Goal. Spanish Fort takes over with 7:42 left in the third leading 35-6 #ALHSFB pic.twitter.com/MXyBkvalaf

— Gulf Coast Media Sports (@GCMSportsAL) August 23, 2024

“That's what good defenses are built on,” Burkhalter said. “To have that stand, everybody was locked in. It's the next-play mentality and we went out there, executed, got off the field and that's all you can ask for.”

Smith agreed that no matter the score plays like that from that situation are always big.

“I don't care what the situation is, you play football one way,” Smith said. “I think they bowed up and answered the call there. And I was really excited to see that, I thought that was a great thing for us going forward.”

New face wastes no time finding pay dirt

King, a transfer from Faith Academy, wasted no time impacting his new offense with a hat trick of touchdowns in the first half alone.

All three came in short-yardage situations where he received a direct snap and powered his way over the goal line behind an offensive line that included seniors Tyde Staten, Ryan Perry and Chambers Jones as well as juniors Cole Miller and Beau Pollack.

“I thought he did a great job with our Wildcat stuff,” Smith said of King. “Ran the ball extremely hard, the guys up front did a fantastic job blocking.”

From Burkhalter’s perspective, he was excited to see the Spanish Fort offense clicking early.

“They're explosive. They're going to be dangerous this year. Really dangerous,” Burkhalter said.

Shamburger returns to lead the show

Returning their signal-caller from last year, the Toros’ head coach was pleased with Shamburger’s performance, which included a scramble to escape the shadow of his own goalposts following the goal-line stand.

“A lot of confidence and calm, cool, collected,” Smith said. “I thought he hurt them with his legs and I thought he hurt them with great decisions to get the ball out in looks that we're given.”

It was Wilson who capped the scoring to cash in on an interception from senior Caleb Chesser that secured Spanish Fort’s first win of the season in the team’s first try.

A little sweeter in a rivalry

Both Burkhalter and Smith concurred that the victory was a little extra sweeter with how the last two games in the series have gone.

“This one's sweet,” Burkhalter said. “This one feels good, for sure.”

“Feels great. To come over here, where it hadn't had been good for us the last two years, to start off with a win and be prepared coming up,” Smith said. “Can't say enough about our kids.”

The Toros moved to a 5-4 edge over the Pirates in the all-time series according to the Alabama High School Football Historical Society. 

Stat sheet

Robertson finished 11-of-18 passing with 170 yards, 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions. Senior Jahaven Johnson led the Fairhope rushing attack with 30 yards on 13 carries and junior Fisher Southall led the receiving corps with 82 yards on 3 catches. Hunt caught 4 passes for 63 yards and the touchdown and junior Bryon Martin racked up 21 yards on 3 catches.

Junior Elliott Jordan led the Pirate defense with 8 total tackles, followed closely by seniors Mason Henderson and Rock Gearhart with 7 on top of 2 tackles for loss. Junior Lance Wade and senior Rohan Markioli each totaled 5 where the latter also added a tackle for loss.

Up next

Spanish Fort improved to 1-0 on the season and will hit the road again next week to open play within Class 6A Region 1 against Theodore. Fairhope started the year 0-1 and will travel to Faith Academy next week for another non-region tilt.

Money quotes

“That's the turn in the game,” Burkhalter said of winning the turnover battle. “That was huge, getting the ball in good field position, letting the offense go execute and let that be a deciding factor in the game.”

“We knew they're always well coached and always have a great plan. We saw a bunch of stuff that we had to fix on the fly and I thought they didn't panic,” Smith said. “I thought that they played good football, flew to the ball and really answered the call.”