SPANISH FORT, Alabama — The Toros ran away with a 63-30 home win over Fairhope at Spanish Fort Tuesday night.

The No. 7-ranked Toros’ improved to 9-1 overall as the Pirates dropped to 2-7. The Toros defeated Fairhope 63-53 last month at Pirate Gym.

By halftime, SFHS led 30-10 and never let up as the Pirates managed 12 points but were still outscored by the Toro's 21 points in the third. Younger players then took the court in the final period.

Kaleb Hall led the Toros with 11 points, Reagan Eubanks added 10, Austin Depperschmidt had nine, Grant Schumacher eight and Seth Ramey seven points for Spanish Fort. The Pirates were led by Trent Baggerly who finished with nine points while Nate Andrews and Dre Ervin scored five each.

Fairhope's usual leading scorer and four-year starter Rushing Watson, averaging 16 points per game before Tuesday, was scoreless for the first time in recent memory.

“To hold those two guys (Andrews and Watson) to five total points is a minor miracle,” said SFHS head coach Dru Powell. “They are really good players. We mixed up our defense on them some tonight. I thought we were good in both our man-to-man and our zone looks.”

The Pirates were without Andrews and J.P. Sherling last week as they prepared for the Alabama-Mississippi All-Star Football Classic Saturday. Fairhope had also taken a tough, last-second, loss to Gulf Shores Monday night.

But Fairhope head coach Robbie Robertson did not mention excuses.

“It's always hard when good players hit a slump, but it happens." Robertson said. "So we knew it would be tough coming in (here). They are always well coached and very good. We didn’t play very well tonight. But hopefully we can take some of the negatives and improve on them for the new year.”

Powell was pleased with his defense and that so many got to play, especially his four football players (Hall, Chason Milner, Sammy Tolbert and John Wesley Williamson) who only recently got some practice time after the Toros won the 5A state football title Dec. 6.

“I thought we played well and played hard tonight,” he said. “We were able to disrupt their offense with our defense and that was important. We got some points in transition and were able to build a big lead and get everyone involved.”

Spanish Fort will host its two-day Christmas tournament starting tomorrow (Thursday) and Friday this week. UMS-Wright and Mobile Christian will tip-off the first game at 6 p.m. The Toros will follow with Citronelle at 7:30 p.m. On Friday, a consolation game is set for 6 p.m. And the championship game for 7:30 p.m.

Fairhope will travel to Mississippi this weekend to play in the Biloxi Invitational. The Pirates open with Long Beach Friday at 4 p.m.