By PAOLO GORME
News Sports Writer
This past Friday, August 24, Snook Academy of Foley visited the Cougars of Canoe.
The night ended with the Escambia Academy Cougars cruising to an easy 63-0 win. EA did not have many offensive possessions but racked up 289 total yards of offense. One of the staggering stats from the game is that the ferocious Cougar defense held the Eagles to -47 yards of total offense. They only had one first down the entire game. EA’s defense was too overwhelming for Snook.
EA won the coin toss and elected to kick. The Cougars started their first offensive drive after fielding Snook’s punt at the 50-yard line. Roughly 30 seconds after, Jabe Dawe threw a 55-yard pass to Tyreese Smith for the first score of the game. Sam Martin’s point after was good and the score was 7-0.
A little after the 8-minute mark, Pat McGhee fielded a punt at the 30-yard line and took it in for 6. Martin’s point after attempt was no good.
After another 3 and out by Snook, they elected to punt the ball away again. Shannon Wheat fielded it this time and took it 27 yards for a touchdown. Orlando Medina’s extra point was good, making it 20-0 with 4:40 minutes left in the first quarter. With 40 seconds left in the first quarter, QB Jabe Dawe ran the ball in 15 yards for a touchdown. With Medina’s extra point good, the score was 27-0 at the end of the quarter.
The scoring continued for EA when Daughtry McGhee rushed for a 15-yard touchdown at the 8:15 mark of the second quarter. Medina’s extra point was good and the score was 34-0. Pat McGhee scored the last touchdown of the half at the 4:29 minute mark. He rushed 18 yards for the score. Martin’s extra point was good, making it 41-0.
The Cougars’ offense still did not quit scoring after halftime. Shannon Wheat’s 35- yard rushing touchdown along with Parker Robinson’s extra point added 7 more points to the lead.
Daughtry McGhee added on another special team score when he took a punt for 40 yards to the end zone. Medina’s extra point was good and the score was 55-0 with 3:47 left in the third. Daughtry McGhee also intercepted the ball a little after he scored a touchdown. With 10 seconds left, Christian Crook took the hand-off from Cameron Cloud and scored from 5 yards out. Robinson’s point after attempt was no good and the score was 61-0.
The only turnover EA committed was late in the fourth quarter when they fumbled it on the Eagles’ 8-yard line. EA scored off a Snook safety and ended the scoring at 63-0.
“There’s a lot of things we can get better at but we didn’t make very many mistakes in this game tonight. We didn’t have many offensive plays this game since we kept scoring so quick, but next week’s game at Tuscaloosa Academy will be a lot tougher and we look to be prepared for them,” Coach Fountain said after the game.
Coach also added that the kick returners this year are strong as in years past and he was proud of the efforts throughout the game.
Daughtry McGhee was the leading rusher with 85 yards and a touchdown, and Pat McGhee rushed for his jersey number, 8. Jabe Dawe had 55 yards passing and 15 yards rushing.
As Coach Fountain said, the Cougars will travel to Tuscaloosa Academy for an early road game test this Friday. Come out and support the Cougars on their quest to return to Troy for their state championship defense. Go, Cougars!
News photo by Ditto Gorme