DAPHNE — The Bayside Admirals overcame an early deficit Friday night to claim their first victory of the 2018 season over the St. James Trojans 26-6 on their home field.

“It was tough. They’re a good football team,” said Admirals head coach Phil Lazenby. “Anytime you go up against a Jimmy Perry coached team, you know they’re going to be well coached. To be honest they came out with six or seven formations that I have never seen before and it caught us off guard. But I’m proud of our coaches and all of our players. They hung in there.”

After holding the Trojans to two fieldgoals on two of their three opening drives, it was the Admiral defense that gave Bayside its first, and subsequently last, lead of the contest when Tucker Milteer jumped on a St. James fumble in the endzone to knot the score at 6 and Benjamin Kendall booted the extra point to give the Admirals a 7-6 lead with 2:46 to play in the half.

It was a lead they would never relinquish as the Admirals scored 19 more points without giving up a St. James score.

After missing a fieldgoal as time ran out in the half, the Admiral defense was able to force a punt following a Bayside fumble on the second play of the second half.

The Admirals would then take the ball 90 yards in 15 plays, converting a fourth-and-2 with a five-yard run by Nathan Cook to take a 13-6 lead with 1:20 remaining in the third quarter.

Bayside added two scores in the fourth quarter, first on a 75-yard run by John Douglas, then getting an interception on the Trojans’ next play to set up a short scoring drive from the Trojan 23. Cook scored his second TD of the night on a 4-yard run to give the Admirals a 26-6 lead with 4:46 left in the contest.

The Admirals pounded out 328 yards rushing, while running 44 of 50 plays on the ground and held the Trojan offense to just 132 yards total (99 on the ground and 23 yards on 2 of 15 passing with an interception).

“Our offensive line did an outstanding job against their younger, more inexperienced defensive line,” Lazenby said. “I thought that was our best matchup. Last year, it was reversed, and they had the more experienced team. I felt like we did what we needed to do to win the ballgame and I’m extremely proud of the way they executed.”

The Admirals will face their first road test of the season Friday night, stepping up to take on 5A Region 1 opponent Faith Academy in Mobile.