By DON FLETCHER
News Staff Writer
Escambia County High School’s Blue Devils, playing for the third straight week against a Top 10 opponent, were already at a disadvantage when they took the field with two defensive starters on the bench last Friday, September 20, for disciplinary reasons. Add early injuries to a pair of key players, and the results are fairly predictable.
St. Michael Catholic came into the contest ranked as the state’s 7th-best Class 4A football team. It took only a little time for them to show why. The Cardinals, playing on their home field, piled up 416 yards — most of it by halftime — and rolled to a 49-12 win.
St. Michael’s offense got 248 passing yards, including three touchdown tosses, and 168 rushing yards, including 4 touchdowns, in the win.
“It was a tough game,” said ECHS Coach Vincent Harris, who added that his team was again plagued by penalties. “A couple of our defensive starters were already out, then our top receiver and a defensive lineman got hurt early in the game. It should have been a 14-point or 21-point game, but every time we would get a big play, we’d have a penalty.”
One instance, he said, was when a 40-yard Jovon Brown run that carried into St. Michael territory was negated by a holding call.
“Every time it looked like we might get back on track, every time we started moving the ball some, there would be flag,” Harris said.
Two other big gains weren’t called back. Brown and Jamarion Robinson hooked up on a 60-yard scoring toss for half ECHS’s points, while She’Marrion Matthews took another Robinson pass and covered 91 yards for the team’s other score.
The Blue Devils coach said he couldn’t find much to celebrate in the play of his defensive unit.
“Nobody really stood out on defense,” he said. “It was a team effort, and we did not play very well.”
Things shouldn’t be quite so tough this week, when ECHS (now 1-4) travels across the Florida line to take on Northview’s Chiefs, who are 2-3 on the season, on Friday night, September 27. That game will be a final tune-up for three straight Region 1 showdowns ¬— against Orange Beach, W.S. Neal and Satsuma — that will ultimately decide the league’s playoff field.
“I wouldn’t call it a breather,” Harris said of the Northview contest. “They are a tough, well-coached football team.”
The ECHS coach expects a large crowd on Friday, since that’s what the team has experienced in the two road games it has played this season, in Montgomery and Mobile.
“We had a nice crowd last Friday,” he said. “Our supporters travel really well. We appreciate their support and hope they keep supporting us.”