By By Lindsey Sherrill, Staff Writer
Injuries, fumbles, and penalties proved to be the undoing of Escambia Academy as they opened their season against Faith Academy in Mobile Friday night with a disappointing defeat: 27-7.
Escambia Academy Head Coach Mickey Cannon cited turnovers as EA's biggest mistake in the game.
Going into the game, the Faith Academy Rams had the edge on the Cougars as they fielded a considerably larger team. The first quarter was uneventful, as neither team scored.
The second quarter, however, was a different matter, as Faith Academy scored 14 unanswered points. This quarter held a blow for the Cougars as a 55 yard touchdown run on an interception by senior Cody White (senior, #22) was recalled due to a clipping penalty.
The Cougars had a chance to come back as they entered the second half down by only 14, yet neither team would score in the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, the situation for the Cougars looked as if it were improving as White intercepted another pass for a 22 yard run. The Cougars began yet another drive and lost momentum when senior Jace Beasley (senior, #42) was injured and forced to leave the game. Faith recovered the ball and made the score 20-0.
The Cougars came back but were forced to punt on the fourth down.
Buckie Dawson (sophomore, #70) came in to punt in place of the injured Beasley, missed the kick after fumbling the snap to further hurt the Cougars.
With only one minute, 59 seconds remaining on the clock, the Cougars finally scored what would be their only touchdown of the night. The score came on a 16-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Josh Morgan (sophomore, #7), who had replaced starter Dustin Roberts (senior, #16) late in the game, to Bradford Price (senior, #80). The extra point was kicked by J.R. Hall (sophomore, #72) who missed only three extra point attempts last season.
When the clock ran down, the final score stood at 27-7, Faith over Escambia.
Leading the offense for the Rams were Alex Erobu with 98 yards rushing and Phillip Quinley with 89 yards rushing.
Leading the Cougar offense were senior Roberts with 17 carries for 112 yards, Beasley with 14 carries for 72 yards, and Robert Hardy (junior, #1) with 5 carries for 23 yards. Roberts was 5-12 for pass attempts with 20 yards total passing. Morgan went 1-1, with 16 yards passing.
Leading the EA defense were Brandon Moore (sophomore, #24) with 10 tackles, Hardy with 6 tackles and Kevin White (sophomore, #55) with 6 tackles.
Cannon said he plans to use this week to recover from the injuries to his team and work on the mistakes.
Escambia Academy will be on the road again next week as they travel to Butler County to take on Patrician Academy. The game is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.