Cougars look for Friday victory
Published 8:30 am Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Jaylen Henry, running back for Escambia Academy takes his run on the field as the team continues to prepare for Friday’s matchup against Marengo Academy.|Photo by Chandler Myers
Offensive line issues have caused problems for the Escambia Academy Cougars the last two weeks, but the Cougars hope to right those problems when they face the Marengo Academy Longhorns this Friday.
The Cougars (1-2, 0-1) have been unable to establish a run game, while giving up several sacks at the same time, which has caused their coaches to go back and start from the beginning with their offensive line.
If the offense is able to control the ball this week, then the Cougars should come away with a win, EA head football coach Heath Gibson said.
“I feel like if we execute on offense then we should win this game,” he said. “We had a productive practice on Monday, which it’s always good to start the week like that.”
The Longhorns come into their match up with the Cougars sitting at 0-2 and 0-1 in the region after falling to Clarke Prep 41-7 last Friday.
Youth is an issue plaguing the Longhorns, which is a problem that Gibson knows all to well.
“They have lost both of their games, but they are a young team,” he said. “They are facing the same issues that we had three or four years ago. The thing they have going for them is a great coach in Robbie James. He spent several years at Faith Academy and had a lot of success.”
Even with the issues, the Cougars will prepare for a tough region competition in a road environment.
The running game will be a focus of the Cougars’ defense as they get ready for Friday, Gibson said.
“They run the ball extremely well,” he said. “They have a hard time throwing the ball, but they are great at running out of their Wing-T. We will just have to continue to do what we have been doing with our defense and wear them down. We will use a lot of movement and blitz packages.”
For the Cougars to get back to 2-2, they will need near perfection from their offensive line.
If the big guys up front are able to perform their assignments then EA could be in for a big night, Gibson said.
“Our offensive line needs to carry out their assignments and remain engaged,” he said. “We have gone back to some basic blocking schemes for them this week, which looks like it could pay off. If we can get a running game going then we have a chance to put points on the board.”
The Cougars and Longhorns kick off at 7 p.m. on Friday night at Marengo Academy.
