By PAOLO GORME
News Sports Writer
The Cougars from Canoe faced their third out of state opponent this past Friday against the Jay Royals from Jay, Florida. The Escambia Academy Cougars came out victorious, keeping their win streak alive to win their seventh straight game 49-23. With only 39 plays of offense, the Cougars amassed 363 yards of total offense. After the first half of play, it was a very close game with the Cougars leading 21-15. The second half, though, was a different story. EA scored 28 points in the second half and Jay scored only 8. Head Coach Hugh Fountain was very pleased with the plays his boys made in the second half of the ball game.
The Cougars wasted no time putting points on the scoreboard as Fred Flavors returned a punt 58 yards for a touchdown at the 10:01 minute mark of the first quarter. Jace Daniels’s extra point was good giving EA an early 7-0 lead. A few series later, Jay recovered a fumble at the EA 20 yard line but couldn’t capitalize on the turnover. Towards the end of the first quarter, Louie Turner plowed his way through the Royals defense to score a 47 yarder with the extra point good and put the Cougars up 14-0.
As the second quarter rolled around, James Eddings of Jay scored a 32-yard receiving touchdown that cut the Cougars lead to 14-7. Pat McGhee quickly answered back with a 52-yard rushing touchdown at the 10:37 mark of the second quarter.
The last touchdown scored in the first half was by Jay and they opted to go with a 2-point conversion and it was successful. The Royals made the score 21-15. The first half came to an end with Jabe Dawe’s pass intercepted in the end zone.
The Cougars had their way with the Royals in the second half. McGhee scored an 18-yard rushing touchdown, Flavors scored on a 41-yard reception, and offensive lineman Jamie Welker scored at the goal line on a fullback dive. All of those scores were in the third quarter and that tallied on to the Cougars lead 42-15. In the fourth quarter, Dawe scored a rushing touchdown from 50 yards out and scored the last touchdown of the night for the Cougars.
The Cougar defense allowed only 221 yards of total offense with a fumble recovery by Tommy Dortch. Flavors led the receiving core with 85 yards on 3 receptions with a touchdown. Neikel Robinson had 3 receptions and 46 yards. Turner had 85 yards rushing on 8 carries. McGhee rushed 5 times with 83 yards.
“At halftime we sat down and really focused and we were really proud of how we played in the second half. We played hard and we got after it and we played more like a team in the second half,” Coach Fountain said.
The Cougars will not be in action this week as they take a bye week. They will resume play on October 6 for their homecoming game against Clarke Prep.