DAPHNE — Rivalries aren’t supposed to be easy, and Friday night proved no different as Daphne and Spanish Fort traded haymakers before the Trojans emerged with a 42-28 win.

“It feels great man,” Daphne head coach Kenny King said after the win. “You can talk about the guys always wanting to come out and compete; it was a big rivalry game. They always have this circled on their calendar, and we took care of business. I appreciate the hard work they did coming in — I am proud of them.”

The Week 6 Gulf Coast Media Game of the Week was also the Daphne homecoming game, bringing more energy than usual to Jubilee Stadium for a matchup that already had plenty of intensity behind it.

Spanish Fort would silence the homecoming crowd in the opening minutes. Daphne drove into the redzone on its first possession after quarterback Christian Segar hit AJ Blakney down the seam for a big gain, but the Toros’ Noah Stone fell on a fumble in the backfield to flip momentum. On the very next snap, Justin “Juju” Bonner broke loose for a 30-yard run, and quarterback Aaden Shamburger capped the series with a 40-plus-yard touchdown sprint to make it a 7-0 game in a hurry.

The Toros’ defense forced a punt on Daphne’s next possession, and Shamburger again gashed the Trojans with his legs for 70 yards, setting up Bonner for a 1-yard plunge into the endzone to put Spanish Fort up 14-0 just seven minutes into play.

The Trojans steadied late in the first quarter, putting together a six-minute drive that ended with Segar finding tight end Zack Butchka to cut the lead in half. Spanish Fort then fumbled the ensuing kickoff, putting Daphne in prime scoring position to close the quarter.

Segar tied the game early in the second with a short toss into the flats to Gardner, but the Toros answered with a bruising, six-minute drive that leaned on Bonner. The senior later punched in his second touchdown of the night from the wildcat formation to give the Toros a 21-14 lead.

On the other side, the Trojans refused to fold. Jaiden Lee broke off a long kickoff return that sparked a quick answer, and Jaecyn “Scoot” Myles found the edge on a handoff for the tying score shortly after.

A couple of failed Spanish Fort trick plays near midfield on the next possession gave the ball back to the Trojans, and Segar led the drive with his legs before dumping off a screen to running back Izick Johnson, who raced into the endzone 30 seconds before halftime for Daphne’s first lead at 28-21.

The defenses took over in the third quarter after heavy rainfall during the halftime break. Daphne’s front, anchored by Malique Franklin and Trey Kyles, limited the Toros’ dangerous rushing attack while both offenses traded punts for 10 minutes. Late in the third, Shamburger found wideout Damien Tate multiple times and later hit Kyler Bowman on a bootleg to move deep into Daphne territory to start the final quarter.

Franklin set the tone for the fourth with a sack of Shamburger, and Spanish Fort fell apart after that. Blakney picked off Shamburger on fourth down and ended the Toros’ best drive of the half.

With the ball back in Segar’s hands, the Trojans went back to the air, this time to LaBrayln Williams on a chunk play that pushed the ball past midfield. Segar would find Gardner in the flats once again, and the senior sprinted towards the pylon for a diving score, extending the Daphne lead to 35-21.

After the game, King talked about consistency in the Segar to Gardner connection as the season has progressed.

“They had been working it all summer,” King said. “Ever since day one in the summer, you could see that this team was going to be special — I am proud of them, and give it all to them.”

Being a defensive player himself at Daphne and the University of Alabama, King was more than satisfied with the performance from his defense as well.

“They showed up,” King said. “They did a fantastic job. Again, they put the work in during practice. I knew they were going to be ready for this game.”

Spanish Fort tried to rally behind Bonner and Shamburger, but Franklin came up with another crushing sack to stall the drive. Segar then delivered the dagger, launching a 50-plus-yard touchdown strike over the top of the defense to Gardner for their third connection of the night.

The junior signal-caller ended the game with 336 yards passing and five touchdowns. Gardner’s three scores marks the second time this season he has reached that total in a single game.

The Toros got a late touchdown when backup quarterback JJ Thibodeaux entered the game for an injured Shamburger and hit Willie McCovery down the sideline — but Daphne’s crowd was already in full celebration of a 42-28 win.

Daphne will carry this momentum into next week’s region matchup against Davidson as they are now 5-1 on the season. Spanish Fort (3-3) will look to regroup against Blount after letting an early two-touchdown lead slip away in this one.