ANDALUSIA — The Escambia County High School Blue Devils had a lot of success moving the ball on the No. 10-ranked team in Class 4A on Friday, but came up on the short end of a 48-32 loss to the Andalusia Bulldogs.
ECHS quarterback Chris Johnson was 25 of 37 passing for 395 yards, many of them to fellow senior Devante Williams. Williams had 12 receptions for 276 yards and two touchdowns. Johnson finished with two passing touchdowns and two rushing touchdowns, and threw one interception.
“I couldn’t be prouder of my kids,” ECHS coach Lev Holly said. “We really did some great things on offense tonight. Chris and Devante had outstanding games.”
Andalusia led 14-0 after one quarter of play before Johnson hit Williams with a 39-yard touchdown pass with 9:41 left in the second quarter. The Bulldogs added another touchdown in the first half and led 21-6 at halftime.
The second half was a back-and-forth affair, as each team seemed to always have an answer for the other team’s offense. Johnson connected with Gaetyn Thames for a 9-yard touchdown pass to make the score 21-12 with 9:11 left in the third quarter. Johnson also ran for a 6-yard run later in the quarter, to cut Andalusia’s lead to 28-18 with 2:59 left in the third.
The Blue Devils scored two more touchdowns in the fourth quarter. Johnson threw a 35-yard touchdown pass to Williams with 6:16 left in the game, to make the score 41-24 at the time. Johnson also ran for an 8-yard touchdown with 37 seconds left in the game.
Andalusia coach Brian Seymore said he was impressed by ECHS’s talent, especially Johnson at quarterback.
“I hope we don’t play another quarterback as good as him,” he said.
The Blue Devils (1-8, 1-5 in Class 4A, Region 1)  finish up their season at home next Friday, hosting Baldwin County.