FAIRHOPE – The Fairhope JV Boys won the inaugural Baldwin County JV Soccer Tournament with a 2-1 win in the finals over Bayside Academy on April 25 at Volanta Park.

The tournament started Wednesday evening with Fairhope defeating Foley 4-0. Thursday evening’s action saw Robertsdale upend Foley 2-1, and Bayside shut out Baldwin County 3-0. Friday evening Baldwin County and Robertsdale played to a 1-1 draw before Fairhope downed Bayside 2-0 in the last preliminary game.

Standings in the preliminaries were based on points, with the top two teams advancing to the finals. At the end of Friday’s action, Fairhope had 19 points, Bayside 10, Robertsdale 9, Baldwin County 2 and Foley 1.

In Fairhope’s match against Foley, Ben Studstill opened the scoring by heading in a corner kick by Jonathan Smith. Later in the first half, Jacob Ard fought through two defenders before driving a shot at the keeper. Riley Tart cleaned up the rebound for the goal and a 2-0 halftime lead. In the second half, Tart struck again, and Ard collected the final goal of the evening.

Fairhope’s Friday night match challenged a stout Bayside defense anchored by keeper Hayden Dees. The Pirates’ Jacob Ard started the scoring off in the first half as he broke in on the right side and laid a ball back to a charging Riley Tart. Tart tucked the ball in the far post for the 1-0 lead.

In the second half, Alex Tobon got a step on the right side and chipped a 25-yarder just over Dees reach for the 2-0 halftime lead.

The Saturday finals once again saw Fairhope strike first. Jonathan Smith made a run down the left side and turned a service back to a charging Jacob Ard. Ard pounded the service in the right side for the 1-0 lead. Bayside answered 5 minutes later when Garrett Hilton collected a long ball over the top and beat keeper Eddie Adams with a drive to the far post. Fairhope answered to regain the lead four minutes later with Lans Stallings driving a shot just inside the right post from 25 yards out. The Pirate defense stiffened throughout the second half and held on for the 2-1 victory. Eddie Adams and Forrest Huhn, presided over the victory in goal.

Fairhope ended its season with a 16-1 record, scoring 58 goals and giving up just 10.