By DON FLETCHER
News Staff Writer
Two unsuccessful punt attempts on their first two possessions set the tone as Escambia County’s Blue Devils dropped their Class 4A, Region 1 opener against the state’s top-ranked Jackson Aggies by a 43-13 score last Friday, September 6.
In a game that was played amid intermittent periods of rain, the ECHS squad could never get untracked after fourth-down mistakes on successive possessions put them at a 14-0 disadvantage before the game was hardly 5 minutes old.
The first resulted in lost yardage and set up a Jackson touchdown pass; the second, which came about 2 minutes later, saw the ball sail over the punter’s head and into the end zone, where a Jackson player recovered it for another TD.
“That’s what put us in such a hole,” ECHS Coach Vincent Harris said. “We had those miscues, and we had the rain. We were hoping the rain would play in our favor, maybe slow them (the Aggies) down some. Instead, I guess it kind of doomed us.”
Jackson built a 37-0 lead by halftime and kept the Blue Devils offense out of the end zone until the final period, when Tai Henderson ran for a touchdown and hauled in a touchdown pass from Jamarion Robinson.
Neither individual nor team stats had been posted by Tuesday morning, September 10, but Harris said Gabe Hooks, who picked off a pass from his defensive lineman position, and Devin Riley, the team’s middle linebacker, stood out.
“They both did a pretty good job,” Harris said of the pair. “Gabe has done a good job all year, and Devin is starting to come into his own. They had a lot of tackles against Jackson’s five-star running back.”
The ECHS coach pointed out that the Blue Devils defense didn’t do nearly as bad as the final score might indicate.
“We gave them two touchdowns on the punts, so I have to say our defense did a good job, in spurts,” he said, adding that the team would “try to get better at everything we’re doing,” so that, “win, lose or draw, we can make folks proud.”
This Friday’s game, ECHS’s second home contest and region contest in a row, won’t be much easier than the Jackson game, as Mobile Christian visits Atmore. The Leopards, who went 15-0 and won the Class 3A state title last year, were ranked fourth among the state’s Class 4A teams in last week’s poll before posting a 40-6 win over Satsuma.
“They were 3A champions last year, and they didn’t lose many players,” Harris pointed out. “They have a massive offensive line, and they have a lot of good players back from last year. They’re a good team, well coached. They deserve to be ranked up there.”
Game time is 7 p.m. Admission is $10 per person; parking is free.