MOBILE — First-year Spanish Fort head football coach Bryant Vincent knew well beforehand that his team’s three-game version of “Amen Corner” that ended with Thursday night’s 57-7 trouncing by unbeaten McGill-Toolen on Ladd-Peebles Stadium’s artificial turf could become more of a “murderer’s row.”

The Toros are still alive, although their pride and a few of their bodies are hurting more than usual following Spanish Fort’s third straight one-sided loss after opening the season with their first two varsity football wins in their short history that began last year.

“We were just outmanned tonight. I thought our kids played hard, I thought they played with class, and I thought they never gave up,” Vincent, whose team played without three regulars who were injured, said on the field after Thursday night’s loss.

“We’ll take our butt-whippin’s right now,” Vincent said, knowing the reality that the Toros, with their first senior class, were playing a veteran team familiar with success. “We were outmanned. The only thing you can ask of our … players is to play hard (and) don’t back down…”

With another stretch of important 5A Region 1 games beginning Friday night when the Toros host Gulf Shores, Vincent said, “The biggest thing I wanted to get out tonight is not get anybody injured, and that was the most important thing to me (because) we wanted to try to keep everybody healthy going back into regional play.

“We just got done playing Vigor, St. Paul’s and McGill back-to-back-to-back, and the main thing during that three-week stretch was we wanted to try to keep as many people healthy as possible,” Vincent said. He was minus running backs Brent Duke and Cullen Milner and wide receiver Jay Myrick, who is also the Toros’ first-team punter.

Spanish Fort opened the 2007 season with a 14-2 win over Mobile Christian, its first-ever varsity success after a 0-10 season last year, then edged Region 1 foe B.C. Rain here Sept. 7 before falling 50-21 to Vigor, 48-0 to St. Paul’s and then to the Yellow Jackets, the combined scores adding to 155-28.

McGill-Toolen spotted the Toros the opening kickoff, deferring to the second half choice after winning the coin toss. Things stayed on a downhill slide for Spanish Fort for most of the first game after E.J. Pruitt lost 2 yards on first down and starting quarterback Logan Rogers threw incomplete, then sacked for a 7-yard loss by Herb Williams.

The Yellow Jackets had to travel only 35 yards for their first touchdown and they needed just four plays. Quarterback Cullen Wacker threw incomplete on first down, scrambled out of the pocket for 25 yards on second down, then handed off twice to Torian Russell, who scored from the 2 with 9:10 left in the fourth quarter.

Andrew Dolan kicked the first of his six extra points for a 7-0 lead.

Before the first quarter ended, Mc-T built a 23-0 lead on the first of two interception returns for touchdowns by Stephan McCord, another 2-yard TD run by Russell and a safety on a too-high SFHS punt snap with 53 seconds left in the first period.

The lead grew to 36-0 at halftime via a 6-yard touchdown pass-and-run play from second-team quarterback Thomas Morris to wide receiver Zack Vallee 2:51 into the second quarter and Roderick Thomas’ 1-yard run one play after linebacker Roderick Adams’ 11-yard interception return. Thomas scored with 7:28 left in the first half.

Dolan hit the left upright on his PAT kick after Thomas scored. His backup, John Galloway, the Mc-T defense forced another three-and-out and the offense moved from Spanish Fort’s 46 to the 4-yard line, was low on a 20-yard field goal attempt 1:44 before halftime.

Held to minus-37 yards of total offense to that point and without a pass completion, Spanish Fort drove from its 20 to the Yellow Jackets’ 17 via three completions by freshman substitute QB Brent Redman for 62 yards, but a holding penalty after his next completion to Pruitt carried inside the 10 wiped the gain.

Redman overthrew a leaping Adam Barnes in the right side of the end zone on the final play of the half.

Patrick Shreve returned the second-half kickoff 67 yards to the Toros’ 15 and four plays later Tevin Lomax scored on a 2-yard run with 10:31 left in the third quarter. Three plays after the ensuing kickoff, McCord, who carried his first interception back 37 yards, took another in from 40 yards out.

McCord scored with 8:63 left in the third quarter. Dolan’s PAT made it 50-0 and the rest of the game, by mutual agreement of Vincent and Mc-T coach Keith Powell, was played with a constantly running scoreboard clock.

Following Dolan’s fifth touchback kickoff of the night, Spanish Fort drove 80 yards in five plays to avoid a shutout, scoring on Redman’s 27-yard touchdown pass to Barnes with 4:15 left in the third quarter. Derrick Hosch kicked the PAT.

Brandon Norwood’s 2-yard touchdown run three plays after Elliott Clark’s 23-yard interception return to the SFHS 9 and Galloway’s extra point closed out the scoring. Norwood scored with just over 7:20 to play.

With 12 Yellow Jackets getting at least one carry apiece including three of the four quarterbacks used by first-year Mc-T coach Powell, the hosts finished with 162 yards rushing to Spanish Fort’s minus-27. The Toros outgained the parochial-school squad 114-67 through the air. Redman had all of the passing yardage, completing six of 11 overheads.

Russell’s 32 yards on five carries was the top individual total for McGill-Toolen. Powell, a former head baseball coach at Daphne and Fairhope high schools and assistant baseball and football coach at those two places and Baldwin County High, used 10 running backs.

Barnes had two receptions for 61 yards for the Toros. Pruitt finished with 17 net rushing yards on 12 carries but was tackled for lost yardage seven times. The Yellow Jackets also had four sacks for minus-30 yards.