Quarterback Jamar Malone threw three touchdown passes in the first half and Nick Clark ran for two as Daphne held off Alma Bryant 49-35 to win the Class 7A, Region 1 opener for the two teams.

Daphne (2-1, 1-0) led 34-7 at the half and 41-7 with 8:28 left in the third quarter before Alma Bryant (1-1, 0-1) stormed back.

The Hurricanes trimmed the lead to 41-28 on Isaiah Dixon’s 13-yard run and touchdown runs of 35 and 4 yards by Carlito Davis. After a successful onsides kick, Justise Carter scored on a 10-yard run and Daphne’s lead was just 41-35 with 7:38 still remaining.

However, Clark scored his second touchdown of the game on an 8-yard run to build the Trojan lead back to 49-35 with five minutes left, and Daphne held on from there.

Nathan Varela kicked a pair of field goals for the Trojans to start the scoring. Jaecyn Myles returned a punt 40 yards for a touchdown and Malone hit Jalen Stanton to make it 21-0. Malone was playing just his second game for Daphne after transferring from IMG Academy last week.

After Dixon’s 13-yard TD pass to Ja’marion Broughton got Alma Bryant within 21-7, Malone connected with John Davis from 20 yards out to make it 28-7 and then hit Myles for 13 yards with two seconds left before halftime.

Clark’s 31-yard TD run on his first carry of the second half made it 41-7.

“Our guys came back to finish,” Daphne coach Kenny King said. “We got ahead, the team got lax, guys let up. We can’t do that. We have to fix the mistakes and finish better.”

Daphne travels to Davidson on Friday. Alma Bryant hosts Citronelle.