FAIRHOPE — Bayside Academy’s Teague Broadhead rushed into the end zone to clinch a 27-21, overtime victory against St. Michael to open play within Class 4A Region 1.

Facing a 14-7 halftime deficit, Admiral head football coach Barrett Trotter recognized the need for offensive adjustments to mount a comeback against the Cardinals.

“I wouldn’t say that we weren’t prepared for it,” said Trotter. “It took us a little while to figure it out and figure out what we needed to do to attack it.”

Admirals fight until the end, and then some

In a third-down situation in overtime, Broadhead broke through the St. Michael defense and charged into the end zone with Bayside Academy’s 20th unanswered points to complete the visitors’ comeback.

“He’s a strong, powerful kid,” Trotter said of Broadhead, a Southern Miss baseball commit.

The Admiral head coach added that his original decision was to kick a field goal, but Broadhead had something else in mind.

“Thankfully Teague just took it, his big body, and he said, ‘no thanks, we’ll just run it in,’” Trotter said.

Damien Tate, Tait Moore and Bo Anderson also contributed to the score with one touchdown each.

Key moments for the Cardinals

Though the end of the game resulted in Bayside Academy’s fourth win in as many meetings, St. Michael executed a series of plays that propelled the Cardinals to a seven-point lead at halftime.

Following Brady Zdyb's sprint into the endzone, the junior athlete came up with an onside kick recovery to gain an extra possession for St. Michael. The hosts cashed in when Tucker Tomlinson caught a touchdown pass from Gunner Rivers. Zdyb’s second touchdown rush extended the Cardinals’ lead to 21-7 with 7:10 left in the third quarter.

Up next

Looking ahead, the Admirals will look to keep their undefeated streak and improve to 4-0 on their home field against the Wilcox Central Jaguars next Friday, Sept. 15. Also on Friday, St. Michael will travel to Atmore with a 1-2 record to go up against the Escambia County Blue Devils.

Money quote

“In case you don’t know, we don’t quit,” Trotter said in his postgame message to the team. “I’m proud of y’all and the way y’all fought.”