DAPHNE—Pirates. Trojans. Triple overtime. What else is new? Happy or sad at the end,this is one the boys on both sides will be telling the grand-kids about with Daphne surviving a classic seesaw marathon to win 4-3.

Colin Davis' second goal of the night for Fairhope tied the score at 3-3 to send the match into golden-goal time. But both five-minute periods passed to set up a penalty-kick shootout which ended on Daphne captain James Croissant's PK.

No classic would be complete without controversy and this one included a scratched goal on the first PK by Fairhope's Lans Stalling who officials said went out of order.

Jacob Olmsted went first for Daphne and made goal. Then on Stalling's next attempt his shot hit the cross bar and bounced down and spun away from the goal. Officials ruled the ball did not touch down fully inside the goal line.

The Pirates then needed a miss by Daphne as well as to make their remaining shots — which they did. Jacob Ard, Davis and Christian Sinclair kept Fairhope hopes alive. But DHS finished the first round five-for-five with Josh Gurvitz, Levi Ehmka and Brandon Roberts on the score between Olmsted and Croissant who sealed the win.

“You know we practice that every day,” said Daphne coach Rick Andrew about the PK shootout. “Just for when it comes up and you never know when it will. We work on it because it wins or loses games. And I wasn't surprised this one came down to PKs. It's always a battle. It's been a while, too. Too long, since we beat Fairhope. So it's special.

"Coach (Paul) Stroud always gets his guys ready and they have been the team to beat lately. So, I'm really proud of these guys for fighting and battling for it. I thought we played real well the first half. Then we lost concentration and they took advantage. I told the guys at half that they were going to come at us strong and they did, but I didn't think it would be in the first few minutes. But we kept going,came back, came through. It puts us in the lead for now. We'll be in the driver's seat for a day, but it's not over. There's a lot of soccer yet to be played and we'll have to get back to work. We have

McGill and so do they. We'll know in a couple of weeks who's on top. Like coach (Fairhope coach) Stroud said, 'It's going to come down to the last game,' and win or lose, I think tonight made both teams better.”

DHS went up 1-0 in the first half on a shot by Ehmka as both teams had good looks on attack but were repelled by excellent defense in and around goal. Starting keepers Will Carpenter for DHS and Forrest Huhn for FHS made save after save before the break.

The Pirates regrouped and came out kicking to score twice in the first three minutes of the second half. Welles Richardson flashed from midfield on a break-away strike to draw even 1-1 and Davis finished a hard boot from a crowded box for the go-ahead 2-1. But Huhn suffered a concussion and had to come out with 29 minutes left in regulation.

John Baxter stepped in the rest of the way in the FHS goal. Ehmka tied it 2-2 and Croissant put the Trojans ahead but Davis' second score with seven minutes to go made it 3-3.

Fairhope coach Paul Stroud was unhappy with the rulings but said coming out of halftime with a positive mindset to take the lead made him feel very good about the way his team is playing.

“I was real proud of my boys. Went down a goal then came back and scored two, bang, bang. Got another for the third and thought we scored another in overtime. We had not lost to Daphne in several years. But they played hard. It was a great game. Colin Davis played a great game for us. He really stepped up for us out there. Everybody made me proud to be their coach tonight. Having to pull my keeper and put his back up in a game like this put a lot of pressure on the young man and I hated to do it to him, but he did great. I think Forrest is okay, but we'll see. And we're still in good shape. Third place for the moment, but: We beat McGill. McGill beats Daphne. It gets real interesting, again.”

Fairhope beat Daphne 1-0 on March 1, DHS bounced back to beat McGill-Toolen 1-0, but the Yellow Jackets knotted it up three ways with a 1-0 win at Fairhope.

Fairhope travels to McGill-Toolen April 10 to take on the Yellow Jackets at Lipscomb Field. Daphne then visits the Lip April 17. Those 7:30 p.m. matches promise to be as good as they will be important to all.

The first and second place teams in each region will host the first round of the state playoffs. Third and fourth place finishers must travel.