By By ZACH BROOKS
Sports Writer
The Escambia County High School Blue Devils lost a heartbreaker to the Blount High School Leopards, 21-12, in a hard-fought area game at Hubert Barnes Stadium in Atmore Friday night.
The game was a defensive battle filled with mistakes from the opening kickoff.
On the opening kickoff Blount tried an onside kick that was recovered by the Devils to give them great field position at their own 40 yard-line.
The Devils could not capitalize however, and had to punt.
On Blount's first play from scrimmage they had a huge 54-yard run called back for holding.
On the Devils' second drive of the game, ECHS fumbled the ball and Blount recovered at the Devil 43 yard line.
At the end of the first quarter, the score was tied 0-0.
After both teams exchanged punts for most of the half, James Wilson got the scoring started with a electrifying 15 yard interception return for a touchdown. The conversion was no good so the score remained 6-0.
With 33 seconds left in the half, Harold Lambert sacked the Blount quarterback, who then fumbled the ball, and Lambert scooped it up and rumbled 43 yards down to the Leopard 25-yard line.
The Devils could not score though, and they went into the half leading the Leopards 6-0.
With 7:07 left in the third quarter, Atmore quarterback Dereke Martin fumbled the ball and the Leopards recovered to set them up deep in Devil territory.
Then with 6:18 left, Blount ran it in from 18 yards out to tie the score 6-6. The conversion was good to give them the lead 7-6.
With 9:09 left in the game, Blount broke the game open with and electrifying 76 yard run for a touchdown to make the score 14-6.
With 3:21 left, a long Atmore drive was stalled by a ECHS interception in the endzone.
With 3:00 minutes to go Blount rounded out their scoring with a 2-yard touchdown plunge to make the score 20-6. The conversion was good to make the score 21-6.
With 1:08 remaining, Atmore scored it's last touchdown on a Calvin Davis 6 yard touchdown run to make the score 21-12. The conversion was no good so the score remained 21-12.
On the ensuing kickoff Atmore tried an onside kick that Blount recovered. Blount then ran out to clock to get the win 21-12.
Escambia County finished with over 200 yards of total offense for the night. "We finally got our passing game going tonight, so I was pleased with that. But we allowed too many big plays to win."
Antonnio Richardson led all rushers with 15 carries for 55 yards. Chris Simpson followed with 13 rushes for 46 yards. Calvin Davis also had 40 yards on 6 carries and one touchdown.
Dereke Martin had 20 yards on 10 carries and went 9/12 passing for 78 yards. James Wilson lead all receivers with 9 receptions for 78 yards.
Nick Brown, Harold Lambert, and James Wilson lead the defense in an outstanding performance. "We played great defense, but allowed too many big plays that hurt us tremendously and gave us the loss," Coach Bell said.
Nick Brown lead all tacklers with 9 tackles and 1 sack. Harold Lambert had 6 tackles, 1 sack, and a fumble recovery. James Wilson followed with 5 tackles , one sack, and an interception return for a touchdown.
ECHS finishes their season next week against the Northview Chiefs. "Northview is a great team, and we will have to work hard in practice to try to stop them," Bell said. The game will be played at Northview at 7:30.