Davis Barnett Throws for Career-High 359 Yards and Four TDs as Bayside Academy Pulls Away From Cottage Hill 35-21

MOBILE, Ala. — For No. 3-ranked Bayside Academy, the recipe has become familiar, and on Friday night it worked again.

Davis Barnett plus no sacks plus no interceptions plus five receivers added up to another victory.

Barnett completed 26 of 35 passes for a career-high 359 yards and four touchdowns, and the Admirals scored 14 points in a four-minute span of the fourth quarter to pull away from Cottage Hill Christian Academy for a 35-21 win. The victory kept Bayside in a first-place tie with Mobile Christian in private school Class A Region 1.

A Quarterback Duel That Tilted One Way

The matchup was billed as a showdown between two of the private school classification’s top quarterbacks: Barnett and the Warriors’ Shamar Toodle, the latest standout from the famous Toodle athletic family.

Barnett clearly got the better of it. Toodle never appeared comfortable in the pocket, completing 18 of 30 passes for 105 yards and running for 67 yards on 20 carries.

“He converted a lot of third downs with his legs but it was never anything too far,” Bayside coach Barrett Trotter said. “Our defensive line and linebackers did a great job containing him for the most part.”

Turnovers Kept Cottage Hill Close

Despite being outgained 428 yards to 187, Cottage Hill stayed in the game by capitalizing on Bayside mistakes. Every one of the Warriors’ points came off Admirals errors — a blocked punt and two fumbles deep in Bayside territory.

• Toodle scored on a 1-yard run in the first quarter after Joshua McCants recovered a fumble at the Bayside 4.
• Connor Lesure scored from a yard out in the second quarter after Cohen Perea blocked a punt at the Admirals’ 40.
• McCants scored on a 4-yard run in the third quarter after recovering another fumble and returning it to the Bayside 9.

“We just couldn’t get out of our way for a while there,” Trotter said.

Barnett Finds His Rhythm

Barnett threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Sam Cunningham in the first quarter to cut the Warriors’ lead to 7-6, but Barnett said he was slow to settle in.

That changed on an 80-yard drive that took only 56 seconds. Barnett completed five straight passes, capped by a 19-yard touchdown to Walker Collins, who spun away from defensive back Xykais Thomas to get open at the goal line. Cooper Mason then converted a two-point try on an old-fashioned “waterbucket” play to tie the game 14-14 at halftime.

In one stretch bridging the two halves, Barnett completed 16 of 17 passes, including 10 straight in the second half. His third touchdown pass came in the third quarter, a 36-yarder to 6-foot-5 Ward Hix, who was double covered but reached over a safety at the goal line to make the catch.

Bayside’s scoring drives covered 80, 80, 80 and 74 yards as the Admirals used Barnett’s precise, possession-style passing game to spread the field.

“I feel like I’ve got the best guys around me that I could possibly have,” Barnett said. “Even when I make a bad throw, they make a good catch. We started off slow but a lot of that’s on me. When I started getting the playmakers and guys the ball, the game flipped. It was me not communicating the calls back and forth. I take a lot of that blame. I’ve got to clean it up.”

The Fourth-Quarter Turning Point

The game was tied 21-21 entering the fourth quarter. Two plays into the period, on second-and-1, Barnett launched a rare deep ball to wideout Mason Edwards. Edwards battled CHCA defensive back Gavin Archible for the ball in front of the Cottage Hill bench before snatching it out of the air and racing 65 yards for a touchdown, giving Bayside the lead for good with 11:07 remaining.

The Warriors’ coaches argued for offensive pass interference, but no flag came.

“I always tell my guys, man, if you leave it in referee’s hands, it’s never gonna go your way,” CHCA coach Carvel Jones said.

About four minutes later, Bayside forced a punt from Cottage Hill’s end zone, then drove just 29 yards for Cunningham’s 1-yard touchdown run and a 35-21 lead. In the fourth quarter alone, the Admirals outgained the Warriors 155 yards to 18.

“This is a game that we had to win,” Barnett said. “Coming off last week (a loss to St. Michael), getting into some real region play now, we had to come out with the W.”

Barnett’s Remarkable Season

Barnett leads Class A quarterbacks in passing yards and quarterback rating (159). He was not sacked Friday, has yet to throw an interception in 144 attempts this season, and now has 25 touchdown passes.

He completed passes to five receivers, led by:

• Mason Edwards: 3 catches, 78 yards, 1 TD (65 yards)
• Sam Cunningham: 7 catches, 101 yards, 1 TD (25 yards); 1-yard rushing TD
• Walker Collins: 10 catches, 96 yards, 1 TD (19 yards)
• Ward Hix: 36-yard TD reception

“Davis does a heck of a job getting the ball to the right place and reading the defense and going through his reads,” Trotter said. “And our receivers have done a heck of a job.”

Bayside Defense Makes Key Stops

Trotter also praised his defense, which repeatedly held firm after Bayside turnovers gave Cottage Hill short fields. The Warriors turned the ball over on downs at the Bayside 29, 33, 39 and 21, and Mac McGrew missed a 40-yard field goal attempt from the 23.

“It’s a four-quarter fight and our kids showed up and they kept swinging and they never backed down,” Trotter said. “We finally got our heads out from wherever it was the first three quarters. The defense really did a heck of a job. We gave them a bad field almost the entire night and they had a bunch of stops down in the low red area, some big fourth-down stops. I thought our DBs played a heck of a game, tackling out in space, getting off blocks and then also playing the ball down the field.”

Cottage Hill Looks Ahead

Cottage Hill was one of the few schools in south Alabama that chose to play Friday night instead of moving its game to Thursday to avoid a forecast downpour. As it turned out, the only thing raining down was Barnett’s completions.

The 35 points were a season high allowed by the Warriors and only the ninth time Cottage Hill has given up that many in 38 games over four seasons under Jones.

“Anytime we score 21, in my mind, we’ve got to win, so that’s on me on the defensive side,” Jones said. “They do a good job with a lot of movement stuff, getting the ball in space, getting the ball out quick. I thought we were in a position a lot of times and things just didn’t go our way.”

“We didn’t capitalize on a few turnovers and the (field) position that we had,” Jones added. “We’ve got to tighten up on a few things on the defensive side. We played well on special teams, had a blocked punt. We’ve just got to get back to work on Monday and focus on ourselves.”

Standings

• Bayside Academy: 5-1 overall, 4-0 in region
• Cottage Hill Christian Academy: 4-2 overall, 2-2 in region

With Mobile Christian also beating Providence 27-13 on Friday, Bayside and the Leopards remain locked together atop private school Class A Region 1.