By DON FLETCHER
News Staff Writer
Escambia County High’s football team was overwhelmed for the third straight game last Friday (October 20), dropping a 38-14 Class 4A, Region 1 decision to Bayside Academy that ended ECHS’s shot at its first playoff berth in years.
The Blue Devils, 5-4 overall and 2-4 in region play, still have a shot at their best season record since 2018 — when the team went 6-4 in Rico Jackson’s second year at the helm — if they can knock off 1-7 Orange Beach in this Friday’s season finale, a home game.
Bayside jumped out to an early lead and never looked back as the ECHS offense couldn’t get untracked and its defensive unit was unable to stop the Admirals, who picked up 229 yards and a touchdown through the air and 132 rushing yards that produced 3 TDs.
Bayside also took advantage of the Atmore squad’s only turnover of the night, returning a fumble 48 yards for a score.
ECHS’s statistics had still not been posted online by Tuesday’s press deadline, but game reports show that Lorenzo Arnold hauled in a scoring pass from Jamarion Robinson for one score, and James Whatley ran for the other. Luis Garcia booted the PAT after each scoring play.
The TD toss gave Robinson, a sophomore, 18 scoring passes for the season. He could break the school record of 19 this Friday. The rushing touchdown was Whatley’s 8th of the season.