•Lane’s four goals not enough for Daphne as Holmes’ hat-trick helps Spanish Fort avenge earlier loss at Jubilee Stadium 

SPANISH FORT—It appeared headed for overtime as the Toros and Trojans ended the first 40 minutes tied at 3-3 for the half. But Spanish Fort took and held the last lead change for the 5-4 home win as Steely Holmes scored twice in the second half for the Toros while Daphne’s Rachael Lane could add just one more to her first-half triple.

 “We finally got aggressive enough in the second half to out score them and held on defensively for the win,” said Spanish Fort head coach Barclay Kercher. “It’s hard to stop Rachael Lane and in the first half, we didn’t have an answer. Especially because she and Yesenia (Avalos) were connecting so well. But Steely Holmes had a great game and we were able to hold Daphne off at the end. 

“Lily Fulton was also a big part of that through our defense. She made a lot of big stops for us tonight and Emily Cox in goal for us had a really good game with 14 saves against a really good offense.”

Daphne coach Dean Logan said his defense broke down at times in the second half.

“Tough day,” he said. “Defensively we were not at our best tonight. Steely was really quick tonight and we were not playing tight enough for her and she broke through. But we played hard and it was two good teams battling hard all the way to the end. We could meet them again (in the second round of the Class 6A state playoffs).

Cande Martin and Sarah Thompson each scored in the first half for the Toros. Holmes had the assists on those goals for the Toros who improved to 7-9-1, 4-2. Avalos had three assists and DHS keeper Valeria Aglietti had five saves.

The Trojans (6-7, 4-1) had already clinched the Class 6A, Area 1 championship and will host the first round playoff match. As Area runner-up the Toros will travel.