By Stephen Newhouse

The Press-Register

DAPHNE — Southside closed out region play with a 39-6 loss to Bayside Academy Thursday night, giving up 240 rushing yards to the Admirals.

The Panthers trailed 26-0 at halftime, but Panthers head coach Daniel Flowers said his team played a lot better after intermission.

“We were a little sluggish to begin the game,” Flowers said. “I don’t know if the ride got to them or what, but in the second half they came out and played a lot better.”

Flowers said the Admirals seemed to have good field position most of the game, which did not help the Panthers cause defensively. Plus, the Southside offense seemed unable to get a lot of positive momentum going.Bayside’s offense found plenty of holes, racking up rushing yards in bunches.

“Our backs ran hard tonight, and they were very shifty and hard to tackle when they found holes,” Bayside coach Phil Lazenby said.

Bayside was dominate in the first half as it cruised to its big halftime lead. Tripp Puckett scored on touchdown runs of 25 and 9-yards. Landon Lasseter caught a 9-yard touchdown pass from Hunter Slater and rushed for a 1-yard score.

Bayside continued its momentum in the second half with a Trey Barry 19-yard touchdown pass to Blake Giles. Later, Lasseter added a 13-yard touchdown run.

With the game out of reach, Southside’s Christopher Raymond put the Panthers on the board late in the fourth quarter with a 19-yard touchdown strike to Derick Daniels.

“Our region is probably the toughest in 3A, and I’m proud of how my kids have shown up to play each and every week,” Lazenby said.

Flowers said his team continued a recent trend where it was unable to make big plays.

“They made the plays and we didn’t make the plays,” Flowers said. “We’ve been having problems making big plays.”

Bayside (5-4, 5-2) host Satsuma next week. Southside (2-7) hosts Dallas County.