It’s getting close crunch time for our area football teams as the football season is in full gear.

The Escambia County Blue Devils and Escambia Academy Cougars are already halfway through their seasons, while Northview is still in the early stages after only playing three games.

The Blue Devils who started the season ranked 10th have had injury troubles since the first game of the season, but have continued to fight to get to a 3-2 record at the middle of their season.

The second half of the season begins with a tough match up as the No. 1 Thomasville Tigers come to town this Friday for a big Region 1 match up.

Escambia County is 1-11 against the Tigers with their lone win coming on Nov. 11, 1983 by way of an 18-14 win in the first round of the playoffs.

Earning a victory this week will take a big effort from Escambia County, but head coach Mark Heaton always has them ready to compete even when the deck is stacked against them.

Maybe this will be the season that the Blue Devils sneak up and get that second win against Thomasville.

Escambia Academy is traveling to Jackson Memorial Stadium this week to take on the South Choctaw Academy Rebels in a region game.

The Cougars must win this game to keep pace in the race for the playoffs.

If the Cougars offense even resembles the team they played like the last three weeks then they could pull away early against the Rebels who gave up 72 points last week.

This match up could set the tone for how the second half of the season goes for the Cougars with games against Southern Academy, Fort Dale Academy and Monroe Academy left on the slate.

Winning any of those games late in the season could mean big things whenthe playoffs arrive.

In Florida, Northview finally gets to stay home and play a game in front of their fans.

The Gulf Breeze Dolphins make the trip up to Bratt, Fla. looking to hand the Chiefs their second loss of the season.

The Chiefs though do not back down to any opponent and will look to make this a tough win for the Dolphins.

Northview is looking to have the most successful season to date under head coach Sid Wheatley and a win over another big school like Gulf Breeze could help set that in motion.

Chandler Myers is sports editor of the Atmore Advance. He can be reached at 368-2123 or by e-mail at sports@atmoreadvance.com