The Escambia Academy Cougars had a tough time on the road Friday night, falling 50-14 at No. 6 Monroe Academy, at Volunteer Stadium in Monroeville.

EA head coach Hugh Fountain said his team has to focus on details if they expect to avoid similar losses later in the year.

“The bottom line was we turned the ball over too much,” Fountain said. “We threw a couple of picks and we had a fumble. We made too many mistakes to win a big game.”

The Cougars turned the ball over three times in the first half, as the Volunteers jumped out to a 30-0 lead with 1:11 remaining in the second quarter. Escambia Academy broke onto the board shortly afterwards, as Tim Finklea pulled away for a 74-yard touchdown run on the first play of the ensuing offensive drive.

Brett Gorum attempted to run for the two-point conversion, but was tackled short, making the score 30-6 with 47 seconds left in the first half.

Fountain said his team actually began the game with some positive plays, but were unable to maintain the momentum as the game progressed.

“We really came out at the beginning of the game and did good things, but we blew some opportunities,” Fountain said. “We came back and had a pretty good drive, but we turned the ball over. They just beat us because we didn’t execute in any areas very well.”

The offensive woes continued for the Cougars in the second half, as Escambia Academy went three-and-out in each of its first three possessions. The Volunteers scored on each of their three possessions in the third quarter, increasing their lead to 50-6 heading into the fourth.

The Cougars started to put some offensive flashes together in the fourth quarter, as the second string moved the ball well against the Volunteers. Escambia Academy started a drive with good field position, when Lane Purvis recovered a Monroe Academy player’s fumble at the Cougars’ 41-yard-line just 48 seconds into the fourth.

Freshman running backs Kris Brown and Kainoa Gumapac each had several strong runs in the Cougars’ seven-play, 59-yard scoring drive. Sophomore quarterback Kevin Gumapac scored at the end of the drive, with a 1-yard touchdown run. He also converted the two-point conversion on another run, cutting the Volunteers’ lead to 50-14 with 6:28 remaining in the fourth.

Fountain said the Cougars would spend the next week working on fundamentals and watching film in hopes of learning from their mistakes in Friday’s loss.

“We’ll go back and look at the film,” he said. “When you have a game like this, it’s a chance to see what guys played hard for you when the chips were down.”
Despite the big loss, Fountain was optimistic about next week’s matchup with Sparta Academy.

“We don’t have anybody we don’t have confidence in,” he said. “Monroe is a good football team, but we expect more. I place the blame on myself.”

Escambia Academy (2-2, 1-2 in Class AAA, Region 2) will return home Friday night to host non-region opponent Sparta Academy at 7 p.m. at Bachelor Field.