Gunner Rivers, freshman son of former NFL star Philip Rivers, saw his first live action as the St. Michael quarterback on Thursday night.

Alabama 4-star linebacker commit Sterling Dixon saw his first action for the Spanish Fort Toros after transferring from Class 3A Mobile Christian last month.

And both coaches saw what they wanted to see from a preseason jamboree football game one week before both start the 2023 season.

After a one half of varsity action, the Toros led the Cardinals 10-6. The teams played their younger players in the second half.

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“It’s exactly how I wanted it to go and how I thought it was going to go,” said Spanish Fort coach Chase Smith, whose team opens the regular season at home against Class 7A Fairhope next Thursday. “We did some good things. We were a little apprehensive at times.

“We are going to have to work on the effort. The effort is not where I would like it. I thought we had a little wide-eyed, and that was the point of this. They did some good things, and we did some really good things. We just need to clean it up before next week.”

Philip Rivers had a similar take. His team opens at Class 5A No. 9 Gulf Shores next Thursday.

“We competed, which is what we wanted,” Rivers said. “I must have said it 1,000 times the last few days. We said, ‘What do we want to get out of this? Let’s compete really hard. Let’s get better. I don’t care what the scoreboard says. I don’t care if they turn it off. I don’t care if it says 50-0 them. That doesn’t really matter.

“We weren’t coming here to try to beat Spanish Fort obviously. This is a heck of a team and a tough task. We knew what this was, and Chase was trying to get the same thing done, so let’s just get better.”

A lot of the focus was on Dixon and the younger Rivers, making his first varsity start. The 6-foot-3, 215-pound Dixon, the reigning 3A Lineman of the Year, played mostly at middle linebacker for the Toros in his debut. He finished with 5.5 tackles, a quarterback pressure and a tackle for a loss in a half of action.

“From what I saw, it looked like he was flying around, doing his job, and I think he is only going to get better from here on out,” Smith said of Dixon.

Louisville commit Cole McConathy added 4 tackles, 2 tackles for a loss, 2 QB pressures and a blocked PAT. Bishop Burkhalter had 2.5 tackles and a tackle for a loss.

“Those guys are pretty good now,” Philip Rivers said of the Spanish Fort defense. “The can run. And they hit. I thought it was great. It got juiced up a little bit, but our guys needed that. We have a lot of young players who aren’t used to that. They have to find out what it is going to be like. I thought it was great.”

Gunner Rivers, wearing No. 17 just like his dad, went 13-of-22 for 94 yards. He threw a 4-yard TD pass to Brody Jones for St. Michael’s only points in the varsity half. He had a second-quarter deep pass intercepted by Spanish Fort’s Javontae Walton. However, his father said even that wasn’t necessarily bad.

“I thought he did fine,” Philip Rivers said. “He got going there toward the end. He threw a touchdown – nice play by Brody there. I’m glad that situation (interception) happened. He felt a little bit stuck. We kind of max protected. There was no where to throw it away. He felt like no one was open, so you live with it as a quarterback. Do you give him (the receiver) a chance or take a sack or what do you do? He took a chance and, in this game, there were no consequences to it’s great.”

Rivers’ TD pass came with 2:35 left in the first quarter and gave St. Michael a brief 6-3 lead. It was set up by freshman Gus Faulkner’s interception of Spanish Fort quarterback Aaden Shamburger, which he returned 32 yards.

Shamburger, a sophomore transfer from McGill-Toolen, came right back. He ripped off a 47-yard run on a keeper and then hit senior Gabe Myers with a 33-yard TD pass to cap a two-play drive and give the Toros the 10-6 lead.

“He did a good job on that big run right there,” Smith said. “What I really liked is he threw that pick and came right back and had a touchdown drive. That is what I’m looking for.”