Escambia Academy will take a base approach to its spring game this Friday when the Cougars play host to the Monroe Academy Volunteers.

The Cougars in their first spring practice under head coach Hugh Fountain will take part in a controlled scrimmage against the Volunteers featuring different drills the teams will be faced with throughout the season.

The format of the scrimmage will feature the first-team offenses and defenses going up against one another in different situations.

“It will be a controlled scrimmage,” Fountain said. “We will get the ball for a 16-play drive and then they will get it for a 16-play drive. It will be our first team offense and defense against their first team, so we will get to see how we line up against a good team like Monroe. We will also mix in some red zone drives and some goal line situations as well. It’s mainly a situational scrimmage.”

With the scrimmage being a small glance at how the team will perform, the analysis by Fountain will not be too deep.

Looking at how the team operates with the basics will be a key to a successful scrimmage, Fountain said.

“Really, we are just going to measure our success on base fundamentals,” he said. “We are going to line up and play our base defense and base offense to see how we look with our personnel. Seeing how they perform against another team will be important since we are closing out spring practice.”

Playing a top team in Monroe Academy will also allow Fountain to get a look at his younger players.

Having eighth graders and freshman lining up against juniors and seniors will give the new Cougars a coach a chance to see what he has deep in his roster.

“The interesting thing coaching here is that some eighth and ninth graders will see a lot of time along side our juniors seniors,” Fountain said. “It will be interesting to see how they mix together and compete against a team like Monroe Academy that will be an upperclass-oriented team.”

With the focus being on how well the Cougars perform in the scrimmage, Fountain and his staff won’t look to scout their rival and region foe.

“Other than just playing them because they are tough program, we aren’t really looking for anything,” Fountain said. “Playing them will really just give us something to measure on since we are now competing in AISA AAA.”

The Cougars and Volunteers will kick off their scrimmage at 2:30 p.m. on Friday at Bachelor Field in Canoe.