GULF SHORES — The Gulf Shores Dolphins downed the McGill-Toolen Yellowjackets with a 10-6 slugfest at home in Mickey Miller Blackwell stadium.

Gulf Shores improves to 1-3 while McGill-Toolen falls to 1-3.

This start perfectly mirrors the Dolphins’ last season, where the team also bounced back from an 0-3 start with a victory over the Yellowjackets. Gulf Shores fans will hope to follow it up by making bigger waves than last year.

The Dolphins and McGill-Toolen only had one first down a piece in the first quarter. Gulf Shores head coach Mark Hudspeth credited the slow start to injuries.

“We wanted to get the ball to some of our playmakers, but a lot of our playmakers were running on one wheel.” Hudspeth said. “That sort of limited us a little bit because we had some guys that were injured that tried to go but just were not 100%.”

The silence was broken toward the middle of the second quarter by Dolphins running back Travaris “TJ” Johnson. A pass completed to him by quarterback Jud Harris went for 83 yards, most of which came after the catch as Johnson slithered around half the Yellowjackets defense and flew ahead for the score.

“He had a big run that sort of gave us some momentum and sort of lit a fire under us,” Hudspeth said. “Unfortunately, that was his last play of the whole game so he was out the rest of the game. We were without one of our starting running backs, and Carter Davis was fighting through it. Kids were gutsy tonight in a hard, tough-fought game.”

Despite the injuries, the only thing stopping Gulf Shores was themselves. An interception within the first four minutes of the second half gave McGill-Toolen the field position they needed to score their only points of the game.

The biggest problem for the Dolphins, except for the turnovers, was named Blane Barre. The Yellowjackets quarterback capitalized on the field position with a 10-yard touchdown run.

Those quarterback keepers would plague Gulf Shores the rest of the night. Luckily for the Dolphins, the aerial attack wouldn’t.

Hudspeth credited the defensive line. Gulf Shores “not always having to bring pressure to get pressure” played a key role in keeping Barre in check.

Tight end Nick Hampton, who blocked McGill-Toolen’s extra point, soon played a heavy role with multiple catches to bring the Dolphins all the way to the 9-yard line for a potential dagger — that was before tragedy struck.

A reverse led to a fumble, and the Yellowjackets spent most of the fourth quarter threatening to pull ahead. Hudspeth perked up when asked about the mistakes and noted missed assignments that he wants the team to clean up.

“We’ve got to correct those. We’ve got to eliminate the mistakes,” Hudspeth said. “If we can, we can be really good. But those things are really setting us back a little bit so hopefully we can eliminate those.”

After a fumble recovery of their own, Gulf Shores wide receiver Darrion Kirksey gave spectators their second big spectacle of the night. A diving, tip-of-the-fingers catch for 40 yards once again set up the Dolphins on the McGill-Toolen 9-yard-line.

Taylor Barkley kicked a field goal to bring the score up to 10-6 in favor of Gulf Shores with only 5:24 left in the game.

A big quarterback keeper from Barre would bring it within Gulf Shores’ 30-yard line but the defense held strong. The Dolphins failed to milk the clock, and the Yellowjackets received the ball once more with a chance to win.

Again, McGill-Toolen would get within Gulf Shores’ 30-yard-line, this time with an 18-yard pass to Kaden Thrash. Dolphins linebacker Adam Duncan made himself the hero when he thwarted the Yellowjackets’ efforts with a fumble recovery.

The series record between Gulf Shores and McGill-Toolen has now been evened out at 2-2, with both Gulf Shores wins coming in the last two years.

The Dolphins will hope for a repeated result as they stay at home next week against Blount on Sept. 19. The Yellowjackets will face another challenge when they travel to the undefeated Saraland on the same date.