Cougars avenges last year’s season-opening setback
By JOSH FRYE
News Sportswriter
After falling in overtime last season to Presbyterian Christian School, Escambia Academy started out the 2020 season on a high note with a commanding, 27-7 victory over the Mississippi team.
The Cougars opened the scoring as Daughtry McGhee and Landon Sims pushed downfield with a series of running plays, setting up a one-yard touchdown run by McGhee with just under nine minutes left in the first quarter.
The Bobcats, however, fired right back with a long running play that set up a 7-yard touchdown strike and evened the score, 7-7.
With 4:21 left in the first quarter, Sims ran 31-yards into the endzone to put the Cougars back up, 13-7, giving them all the points they would need.
Neither team was successful in finding the endzone during the second quarter and the Cougars maintained the lead at the half.
Sims found Sam Fields on a 50-yard scoring strike at the 5:05 mark of the third quarter, and Fields pushed in an additional two-points after the score to extend the lead to 21-7.
With 2:30 left to go in the third quarter, lightning halted the game for a brief time, giving both teams a short breather.
After the 30-minute delay and with 11:07 left in the final period, Sims found the endzone for a second time with a 6-yard quarterback keeper.
After a failed point-after attempt, the Cougars held off the Bobcats to take the win, avenging last year’s heartbreaking season-opening setback.
This week the Cougars will be highly tested as they host Glenwood Academy, last year’s AISA 3A runner-up. Glenwood, which was victorious over AISA 3A defending state champions Bessemer Academy (37-25) last week.