LOXLEY, Alabama – Baldwin County’s high school football teams met in Loxley on Wednesday for media day, and almost all of them had their eyes on the playoffs and a state championship.

Mark Freeman’s Spanish Fort Toros have their sights on a second Class 5A state championship in three seasons. The Toros’ senior class was a part of the 2010 state championship, the school’s first, and several players have been part of Spanish Fort’s three consecutive baseball state title runs.

Defensive back Johnny Cook played in the 2010 state championship win over Briarwood, and he believes this year’s Toro defense has an edge over the title winning Toros.

“That championship defense was pretty good, but I think this one can be better,” Cook said.

Defensive end Chris Morehouse echoed Cook’s sentiment.

“This defense is more built,” he said. “We have some starters back. Things are coming together pretty well.”

As good as the Toro defense may be, many eyes will be on the offense, where senior quarterback Joel Poe and Alabama committed wide receiver D.J. Johnson play. Spanish Fort will play a preseason game against Muscle Shoals in the al.com Champions Challenge in Montgomery on Aug. 24 and will open the regular season at home against Daphne the week after.

Daphne seeks another title behind strong, experienced players: Daphne head coach Glenn Vickery brought six players to the media day event. Vickery told the gathered media members that the players were selected by two criteria: if they bench press 300 pounds or played in the Trojans’ 2010 Class 6A state championship win over Hoover.

Trey Jenkins is a senior safety/defensive back who has committed to UAB. Jenkins, who benches more than 300 pounds, said the Trojans defense would be solid this season.

“I expect us to fly around on ‘d’ this year,” he said. “I expect us to fly around and get to the ball.”

Cornerback Trey Jenkins also hit the 300-pound bench mark.

“I expect great things from this defense,” Jenkins said. “We have been working very hard this summer.”

Daphne will seek its second state title in three years under the direction of its third defensive coordinator in as many seasons. Former Prattville assistant Nathan McDaniel takes the reins of the Daphne defense after Mark Hurt left to become the head coach at Blount in the offseason. Hurt replaced Bart Sessions, who left after the state championship to become the head coach at McGill-Toolen.

Daphne quarterback T.J. Fleeton, a UL-Lafayette commitment, benches 385 while offensive lineman Ashton McQuitery maxed out at more than 400 pounds.

Robertsdale sees hard work as key to reach playoff goal: The Robertsdale Golden Bears will try to reach their goal of securing a Class 6A playoff spot under the direction of first-year head coach Brian Campbell, who replaced Scott Phelps after last season.

Campbell, a former Daphne assistant, said the Bears must take it one step at a time.

“We have to focus on getting better every day,” he said. “We want to win more games that we did last year, get to the playoffs, then realize what it took to get there and build on that.”

Outside linebacker James Mack said he and the rest of the team are aiming for a playoff spot in 6A Region 2.

“Without a doubt,” Mack said after being asked if Robertsdale can be a playoff team this season. “We are working hard. We are not there yet, but I feel like by the end of the season we will be.”

Campbell said his players must be willing to put in the hard work that is necessary to build a successful football team. He said that some players did not come back after spring practice because of the extra effort he requires of his team.

“If you don’t put in the work, you won’t play at Robertsdale High School,” Campbell said.

Robertsdale will open the season with road games at Mary Montgomery, Foley and Northview-Dothan.

Gulf Shores Dolphins hope weight room successes pay off: Gulf Shores head coach Ben Blackmon put his team through an hour and a half workout on the beach early Wednesday morning before media day.

Players ran sprints in the sand, carried heavy things long distances and swung sledgehammers into the sand, among other things. The workout is part of Blackmon’s plan to “beef up” a Dolphin team that he believed was too weak after last season ended.

“Our strength numbers have gone through the roof in the offseason,” Blackmon said. “It was disappointing to see those numbers when we maxed out after the season last November.”

The Dolphins worked on improving strength in the “Olympic” lifts like power clean, bench press and squat and made impressive strides.

“The kids bought in and we improved our team power clean average from 175 in November to 210 today,” Blackmon said. “Our squat average is up 65 pounds, and our bench press average is up 35 pounds.”

Gulf Shores will host Satsuma on Aug. 30 to open the season.

BCHS Tigers hope to keep improving in Moore’s second season: The Baldwin County Tigers only won one game in Bobby Moore’s first season in Bay Minette, but the Tigers made a lot of improvements that Moore said helped them win their first game since the 2009 season.

This season the Tigers return nine starters on offense, including five on the offensive line and senior quarterback Nate Jones.

Jones said the team has “little goals” that it needs to reach this season.

“We have to try to get better every day,” he said. “The ultimate goal is to win a state championship, but we have to reach all those little goals in order to be in a position to get there.”

Jones will take snaps from his friend and center Jordan Mudrich. The two have played football together since middle school and hope their friendship can help jumpstart an offense that struggled at times last season.

“I’ve got some bros on the offensive line,” Mudrich said, “but (Jones) is the number one bro I have.”

Having a complete offensive line will be a key part of reaching the goals the Tigers set.

“It will be really helpful,” Mudrich said. “We all know the system now. We can get in there and just start busting some heads.”

BCHS will play at Theodore on Aug. 31.

Bayside not satisfied with last season’s success: The Bayside Academy Admirals won a school record 11 games and scored a school best 451 points in winning the 3A Region 1 title last season, but they won’t be satisfied until they bring home the “blue map” state championship trophy.

“Our ultimate goal is always to win state,” offensive lineman Michael Daves said. “When we break down, we always say ‘one…two…three…State Champs’.”

Jacob Graddick, who like most Admirals plays both offense and defense, said the team’s top goal this season is a state championship.

“We are not going to be happy until we win a state championship for Bayside.”

The Admirals return the county’s most interesting pair of running backs in Joe Stassen and Jonathan Walton. The quick, shifty Stassen “put on weight” in the offseason and said he’s 5-9, 160 pounds, while his counterpart Walton is a bruising, fast back with offers from Arkansas State, UAB, South Alabama and Troy.

Bayside will open the season at home against 4A Charles Henderson on Aug. 31.

Foley seeks to keep playoff streak alive: Todd Watson’s Foley Lions have reached the Class 6A playoffs for seven consecutive seasons, but that streak will be put to the test in what Watson called a “murderer’s row” of a schedule.

Foley opens the season with home games against Alma Bryant and Robertsdale, then embarks on a five-game road trip with stops at Daphne, Enterprise, Baldwin County, Fairhope and 5A Jackson. Jackson won the 4A state championship with a 15-0 record last season before moving up to 5A in the offseason realignment.

“That stretch of games is going to tell us a lot about our team,” Watson said. “That’s just the way it fell with the realignment. We have five new teams on the schedule that we haven’t played and ended up with five straight road games.”

Despite the tough schedule, defender Chance Blackmon said the Lions want to keep the playoff streak alive and even win the state championship because of community pride.

“We are shooting for state every day,” Blackmon said. “We are trying to get faster and stronger both mentally and physically. We are not going to let the people in our town down.”

Winegarden era begins in Fairhope: New Fairhope head coach Adam Winegarden was notably quiet about what kind of offensive schemes his team might use this fall, but one thing is for sure: Nate Andrews will be involved.

Andrews, a senior wide receiver/athlete with offers from Florida State, Ole Miss and UAB, is in a battle with Gabe Phillips and Greg Jackson for the quarterback position in Winegarden’s offense. Andrews played quarterback out of a wildcat-style formation some last season when Chase Domino was out.

One thing is certain: no matter where he plays, Andrews will get the ball.

“It doesn’t matter if the coverage is good,” teammate Bryan Bell said of Andrews, “if the ball is anywhere near him Nate will catch it.”

Fairhope will open the season at 5A St. Paul’s on Aug. 31, then will welcome former coach David Faulkner and Enterprise the following Friday night.