PRICHARD, Ala.— The Toros' offense opened their quarterfinal playoff at Vigor Friday with an impressive 14-play drive down to the Wolves 32, but stalled.

The first series would portend the rest of the night as the defending state champions from Spanish Fort continued to move impressively well against arguably the best defense in the state, but not well enough as SFHS fell 12-9 to VHS at Prichard Stadium. The Wolves travel to Hueytown next for the semifinal round.

"We had our chances tonight," said SFHS head coach Mark Freeman through a painfully-sounding sore throat. “We didn't play perfectly, but we didn't expect to. We had our chances, missed a field goal — which is unusual for us — and missed two or three scoring opportunities early in the game. And we played hard, but when you play a team like that, you have to capture opportunities.”

The Wolves scored twice in the first quarter on big play drives then held on relying on it's defense the rest of the way. The Toros' Alexander Theodore kicked a 25-yard field goal before the half to cut the intermission margin to nine. Vigor missed both PAT attempts.

Turnovers halted the SF momentum in the third quarter, but the Toro defense stepped up and shutout the Wolves the rest of the night. The Toros 'O' finally broke the plane of the Vigor goal line with 7:01 to go in the game when Deon Johnson took a pitch from Joel Poe and followed a student-body right in for a 4-yard touchdown. But the extra-point kick was blocked by VHS sophomore linebacker DeShawn Davis. It is the only TD allowed by Vigor so far in the post season.

On their final drive and down three points, SF got to the Vigor 24, but then lost yardage resulting in a 4th-and-one. Edward Autry got the go-for-it call and made the first down with plenty of time on the game clock. But on the next play, a fumble was recovered by the Wolves at their 38. Vigor managed a first down and later took the victory formation with 59 seconds to go.

Senior running back Otis Smith ran for 90 yards on nine carries for the Toros breaking one for 34 yards. SF's junior quarterback Joel Poe was 21-32-1 for 129 yards. He also carried nine times for 27 yards. Johnson, a junior, also caught five passes for 45 yards and had 59 rushing and return yards. Senior linebacker Demarco Montgomery had an apparent and possibly game-winning take away at midfield and was on his way for Spanish Fort six, but the ball carrier was ruled down in the grasp by lack of forward motion.

The Wolves' early TDs were scored by Marlon Moore on a 14-yard run and a 20-yard TD pass from Devin Adams to Rodney Stafford. Vigor only connected for five passes, but they were good for 144 yards with Moore and Adams taking turns at QB. SF' defensive back Jonathan Cook picked off Adams in the first half.

Vigor improved to 11-2 to advance. No. 1-ranked Hueytown remained undefeated (13-0) with it's 39-13 win over St. Paul's. Spanish Fort finished 9-4.

"Vigor is a good football team and I give them credit for the way they played," Freeman said. "But I couldn't be prouder (of his players). I can't say enough about their heart and their effort. We are going to go back and find a way to get better in the off-season. I'm so proud of our kids."

Vigor coach Kerry Stevenson, whose team got by the Toros in the regular season 7-0 said his defense was and had been the key all year.

“We just did get by a good Spanish Fort football team tonight," he said. "Our kids fought their hearts out and we're just happy to just still be playing. Our defense got it done like they have been. They have been backed up before with it all out there, but they left it all out there again to night. They keep coming through. And they were challenged tonight. Spanish Fort came at us. They are a very, very good football team.”