ROBERTSDALE, Ala. — The Robertsdale Golden Bears varsity football team collected its fourth win of the season — the first Regional win against a county foe under Head Coach Scott Phelps — in a 31-17 rout of the winless Baldwin County High Tigers Friday night at J.D. Sellars Stadium in Robertsdale.

"It was big for us to get a win over a county opponent, but more importantly to put these kids in a position to go 5-5 with a win next week," Phelps said after Friday's victory that pushed the Bears to 4-5 overall, 2-5 in 6A Region 2 play. "We were just able to execute right and not turn the ball over."

The Bears broke the game open at the end of the first half, scoring 17 points within a 2-minute span to take a 24-3 lead going into the locker room.

"Our defense really stepped up an executed well and it's something we've been talking about all week that if we had the chance to get the ball and score, that we would try to get one more score before the half," Phelps said. "We were able to get a big play, got the ball right back and kicked a fieldgoal before halftime. That put us up by three scores going in at halftime and that made a big difference."

Robertsdale struck first on a 13-yard run by Sammie Tolbert with 4:32 remaining in the opening period to go up 7-0 before holding the Tigers to a 22-yard fieldgoal by Aaron Creps with 10:43 remaining in the half, which cut the lead to 7-3.

The score remained 7-3 until just under two minutes to play in the half.

Robertsdale got the ball at their own 34-yard line and took just three plays to score, beginning with a 13-yard pass play from Quarterback Hunter Vaughn to former quarterback turned wide receiver Caleb Sumrall. After a one-yard run by Jovaris Jackson, Vaughn took the ball himself from the Bear 48 and raced 52 yards for the score. Colby Norman tacked on the extra point for a 14-3 Golden Bear lead with 1:47 remaining in the second period.

Robertsdale's defense held the Tigers to three-and-out and Tolbert returned the punt to near midfield at the Bear 48-yard line.

After an incomplete pass on first down Vaughn connected with Matthew Maddox on a 33-yard strike inside the red zone at the Tiger 19. Vaughn called his own number again and raced 19 yards for the score with 29.4 seconds remaining in the half.

Norman chipped in his third extra point of the contest, then had the chance to add three more points to end the half after Timothy Betts fell on Robertsdale's onside kick, giving the Bears the ball back at the Tiger 44.

An incomplete pass and a Bear penalty pushed the ball back to the 49 before Vaughn ran for 15 yards, stopping the clock by going out of bounds at the Tiger 34. Vaughn again hit Sumrall on a 13-yard strike to put the Bears within fieldgoal range and Phelps used his final timeout of the half to line Norman up for a 37-yard attempt with 5.3 seconds left.

The kick sailed wide, but Norman would get another shot after a Tiger penalty allowed the senior kicker one more chance. This time the kick sailed through the uprights, giving the Bears a 24-3 lead with no time left on the clock.

Both teams would add scores in the second half with the Tigers striking first with just over three minutes to play in the third quarter.

Quarterback Nathan Jones completed a lateral to Quinton Butler, who found Kareen Brown wide open for a 55-yard touchdown strike and Creps added the extra point to cut the lead to 24-10 with 3:10 to play in the third quarter.

Robertsdale struck right back, going 70 yards in 12 plays.

Vaughn again hit Sumrall for a big gain from the Tiger 41 down to the BCHS 5-yard line. After a holding penalty negated a Vaughn run to the 1-yard line, Vaughn was looking for Sumrall again, but the ball was tipped right into the hands of Maddox, who fell into the endzone for the score. Norman's kick gave the Bears a comfortable 31-10 lead with 11:08 remaining in the contest.

Baldwin County tacked on another score after Robertsdale fumbled the ball in Tiger territory and BCHS scored eight plays later on a four-yard run by Quinton Butler to cut the lead to 31-17.

The Tigers would attempt an onside kick, but Tolbert was able to recover the ball at the Bear 49 yard line and Robertsdale ran the last 10 plays of the game, including a 20-yard run by Tevin Sykes to give the Bears a first down at the Tiger 8, where they were able to run out the clock and gain the victory.

It was another big night for Vaughn who ran for two touchdowns and threw for another, gaining 107 yards on just nine carries, while completing 10 of 18 passes for 157 yards in the contest. Tolbert added 84 yards on 18 carries and caught a pass for 9 yards with a TD run for the Bears. Sumrall caught four passes for 76 yards and Maddox had four for 59 yards and a score.

Namon Scott led the Tigers' rushing attack with 70 yards on six carries. Andre Pigrum added 63 yards on 13 carries for BCHS. Butler's strike to Brown accounted for all but nine of the Tigers' passing yards as Jones completed just 4 of 13 passes on the night for BCHS.

The Bears will get the chance for .500 at home next Friday night after the contest with Faith Academy (3-6, 1-5 in 5A Region 1) was moved from Mobile to J.D. Sellars Stadium. The Tigers (0-9, 0-7) will get one final shot for the victory column at home against Escambia County High, Atmore (6-3, 4-3 in 4A Region 1).