Noah Miller scored two second-half goals Saturday morning as Daphne rallied past Huntsville 3-1 at John Hunt Park to win its second straight Class 7A boys soccer title.

The Trojans (17-3-2) successfully overcame an abrupt coaching change this season to defend their title. Daphne shut out Oak Mountain for its first state title in 2022.

“We persevered through adversity,” Daphne coach Heath Burt said. “We had a different head coach. This game is a microcosm of our season. Started out with a huge coaching change, which was disruptive for our players. And we had a target on our back the whole year. Everyone wants to beat the defending champion.”

After coach Ruben Risco left the program earlier in the season, Burt took back over. Burt was last year’s coach and has been with the team four years.

Miller, committed to the University of Mobile, was named the game’s most valuable player. He finished with 16 goals for the year.

“To be honest, I just played my game,” Miller said. “And then I took the other fans as motivation — after going that one goal down — to get my team back in the game. And then I just really wanted to achieve with my teammates something that’s never been done in history.

“At the beginning of the season, our original coach left the program, and we just wanted to prove everyone wrong and get a back-to-back.”

Playing in its hometown, Huntsville took an early lead as Owen Bothwell scored in the 25th minute with an assist from Cody Givens. Bothwell, a senior, took Givens’ pass just outside the penalty area and found the right corner of the net for a 1-0 halftime lead. He beat Trojans goalkeeper Morgan Reilly, who had two saves in the half. Harrison Shiner was in the net for Huntsville. Both goalkeepers finished with three saves.

Miller evened the score in the 57th minute with an assist from Patrick McAllister. The Trojans went up 2-1 when Will Alves tapped in a rebound in the 67th minute. A minute later, Miller scored his second goal with an assist from Alex Potier.

“We just calmed them down (in the second half), played our game, let the game come to us,” Burt said. “We just felt we had more dynamic players. We’re quick scorers, dynamic attackers. But man, they’re (Huntsville is) just a methodical, well-coached team, played the game the right way. Well-coached team.”

Huntsville, which was unranked, finished at 14-9-3.

“We ran out of gas,” Panthers sixth-year coach Babayele Sodade said. “We were up 1-0. Then we crumbled, I guess. Daphne has incredible forward players. They used their forward players. They punished us.”