The Escambia Academy Cougars’ football team is preparing for what the team’s coach has said could be the toughest schedule in its division in Alabama Independent Schools’ Association.

Cougar coach Hugh Fountain didn’t mince words Thursday when asked about the strength of the team’s schedule, especially the opening three games.

“We probably have the worst schedule in 3A in AISA,” he said. ‘The first three teams we play were first, second and third in the region last year.”

Not to mention that two of those first three games just happen to be on the road, starting with a trip to Greenville on Friday, Aug. 30 to take on Fort Dale. On Sept. 6,

EA will welcome Hooper Academy to Canoe before finishing the tough stretch on the road at Monroe Academy on Sept. 13.

“We got off to a bad start last year,” Fountain said of his team, which lost the first three games of the season before finishing with a 6-5 record. “The number one goal this year is to not start 0-3. We want to win at least one of them.”

The team goal stretches beyond the first part of the season though, Fountain added. He’d like the Cougars to improve upon the 6-5 record last year, which resulted in the team being seeded fourth in the playoffs and losing to the No. 1-seeded team.

“We definitely want to improve on the 6-5 record,” he said.

One way to improve on that record is hard work and Fountain has been impressed with the team’s heart during practice this summer. He said 34 of 44 total players for EA haven’t missed a day in the weight room.

“We’re off to a great start so far,” he said. “They’ve done a great job with all that.”
Weeks four and five have EA at home, first against Sparta on Sept. 20 and then against Morgan the next week.

EA travels to Pike Liberal Arts on Friday, Oct. 4 before welcoming Southern Choctaw to Canoe the following week. EA will visit Clarke Prep on Oct. 18 and travel to Southern on Oct. 25. EA concludes the regular season on Nov. 1 when it hosts Macon-East.

Fountain said the idea is to break the season up into three parts, starting with the first three games, the next seven and then the playoffs.