HOOVER, Ala. — Daphne athletic director Glenn Vickery's decision to go back to the Prattville defensive well to replace former defensive coordinator Bart Sessions appears to have bode wise for the Trojans as the preseason passing and pass-defending game has taken a prestigious nation-wide title.

Defending 6A state champion Daphne set a tournament record with a perfect 13-0 run in a 31-team field to win the National Select 7-on-7 Championship at Hoover Saturday.

Interestingly, DHS met Prattville in the final taking a close 10-8 title-game victory. What's more interesting, and not surprising, is that the Lions had the best defensive performance against the Trojans in the event, (That’s a deep well up there at PHS). The Lions were the only team to hold Daphne under 20 points and did it twice. They also had an 18-10 loss to DHS in the winner’s bracket final. Hoover finished the week with a 10-2 mark.

Mark Hurt, who was a defensive assistant last year at Prattville, is the new defensive coordinator at Daphne. His arrival in June helped keep a system in place that seemed to hold up and hold down opposing offenses to just over a TD per game through 15 contests.

Former Trojan DC Bart Sessions brought the system from Prattville last summer that Vickery talked about last week in a press conference in Loxley.

“We wanted to keep that defense that coach Sessions set up. It wasn’t broke so we didn’t need to fix it. Besides we didn't want the kids to have to learn another defense either.”

Sessions accepted an offer in February to be the head coach at McGill-Toolen Catholic.

Vickery said after the tournament that the result is a reminder of the Daphne defense’s success last year and a boost for the whole team for the fall.

“It helps build confidence with our players because they saw their teammates competing hard and having success. We played hard every game and our kids made plays.”

Factoring in the strength of field represented and the first-ever undefeated run in the nine-year history of the National Select and the sweep at Hoover just adds to the momentum heading into August.

“Five state champions and five state runner-up teams were there,” Vickery said. “It was very good competition.”

While the Trojans secondary obviously faced some of the best receivers and arms in the country and handled them, the DHS offense got a solid series of tests as well and responded.

Vickery said starting junior quarterback T.J. Fleeton had a chance to unveil more of his skills as a passer to a much wider audience than ever before and finished with an impressive stat sheet repeatedly threading top-notch quality coverage.

“T.J. Fleeton had a great tournament,” he said. “He threw the ball with confidence and made lots of clutch throws.”

Though Fleeton may be the “other” T.J. for now to those who have not seen him play much — he started just one game last year to spell an injured Russ Mosley — Fleeton is well suited to the multiple spread attack.

And his “experience” — he practiced against the best 6A defense in the state last year — coupled with his elusive mobility and solid-touch passing — may soon make him as talked about as that more famous Daphne T.J.

With senior running back and receiver T.J. Yeldon who has committed to Auburn on the same side, the tandem may continue to make history as they helped the Trojans make at Hoover.

They’re already making nice names — or initials — for themselves. I know I like '’em.

—Tony “T.J.” Whitehead