FOLEY, Alabama — The Foley Lions survived a late scare from 7A Region 1 foe Davidson to claim a 19-14 win on Lester Smith Field at Ivan Jones Stadium.

“That’s what it’s all about,” said Lions first-year head coach Tad Niblett after the contest, “two good football teams battling it out. It was a tough, physical ballgame and Coach (Fred) Riley’s team came ready to play. It came down to a few plays at the end and it worked out for us.”

After taking a 17-7 lead at halftime, the Lions were stopped on fourth down on their first drive of the second half to give Davidson the ball on their own 36. Three plays later Donte Edwards ran it in from 55 yards out and the point-after cut the lead to within a fieldgoal with 7:16 to go in the third quarter.

After battling it out for the remainder of the third quarter, Foley took over at their own 16 and marched the length of the field behind the running of Holdan Wilson and Ty Cosby, setting up a first-and-goal from just inside the Warriors 10-yard line.

Two runs by Cosby with an incomplete pass in the middle brought up fourth-and-goal from the Davidson 2, but a Lion penalty pushed the ball back to the 7, where Dalton Taylor lined up to kick a 24-yard fieldgoal.

A Warrior penalty, however, put the ball back at the 2 and the Lions decided to go for it. While many fans thought Wilson crossed the goalline, the referees spotted the ball at the 1-foot line giving Davidson the ball back.

After a Davidson penalty put the ball almost on the goal, Warrior quarterback Marquese Manuel was stopped by a host of Lions for a safety, putting Foley back up by more than a fieldgoal with 9:20 to play in the fourth.

Foley would get the ball back on their own 41 and gained a first down into Davidson territory at the 46, but the Lions were stopped two yards short on third down and a short punt gave the Warriors the ball back at their own 31.

A 17-yard pass play was followed by a fourth down conversion to the Foley 39-yard line and another first down placed the ball at the Foley 27.

But the Lions were able to hold allowing a short gain on first down, followed by an incomplete pass in the endzone. Another pass lost three yards and a Warrior penalty set up a fourth-and-15 from the Lion 32. Manuel’s pass fell incomplete giving the Lions back the ball with 58 seconds left.

QB David Hendrick and company were able to run out the clock giving Niblett his fourth win of the season against just one loss.

After suffering a last-minute loss at the hands of Mary Montgomery last week, then giving up an early score to fall behind 7-0, Niblett said he was proud of the way his team bounced back from adversity to get a big region win.

“That was the first time our team had faced adversity,” Niblett said of last week’s loss. “We didn’t play the best game. That is due in part to the way the other team played, but we weren’t properly prepared. We challenged our players all week and they came out better prepared for this game. We got down early, but they kept their heads up, never gave up and came up big in the end.”

After giving up the lead with 8:49 in the opening period, Taylor chipped a 31-yard fieldgoal to cut the lead to 7-3 with 5:46 to go in the first.

After stopping the Warriors without a first down, the Lions took advantage of good field position from the Davidson 38 to score on six plays, capped by a 23-yard run by Chris Armstrong to take the lead 10-7.

After trading drives Trell Prim picked off Davidson and raced 60 yards for the score to put Foley up 17-7 with 8:23 to go in the half where the score would remain until after intermission.

“I thought both defenses played tough,” Niblett said. “I give credit to our kids. They worked hard and were able to make plays that made the difference in the ballgame.”

Wilson led the Lions with 107 yards on 27 carries. Cosby added 41 yards on 11 carries and Armstrong had 32 yards on 6 carries. Hendrick completed 3 of 11 passes with an interception for 59 yards. For the Warriors Edwards (15-122) and Manuel (20-129) combined for 244 yards on 35 carries. Manuel also completed 11 of 21 passes for 56 yards had an INT returned for a touchdown.

Foley, now 3-1 in 7A Region 1 play, will travel up Highway 59 to take on 6A rival Robertsdale, who is still looking for its first win after taking the last week off, while Davidson (1-3, 1-2) will take on Charles Henderson on Thursday night at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.