By Staff
Zack Brooks
The Escambia Academy Cougars continued their run of dominance Friday night when they demolished the Kingwood Academy Lions 55-22 in Birmingham
The game was never close for the Cougars as they jumped out to a 42-7 lead at halftime and rolled up over 400 yards of total offense.
The Cougars offensive line were the kingpin for the whole offense as they lead the way to 350 rushing yards and five rushing touchdowns.
"Our offensive line played a tremendous game for us tonight," Escambia Head Coach Heath Gibson said. "They came out and really set the tone for our offense and the team as a whole."
The Cougars scored the first touchdown of the night with 9:42 left in the first quarter, when Kevin White bulldozed his way in from 23 yards out to make the score 6-0. White then kicked the extra-point to make the score 7-0.
Josh Montel and Bucky Dawson accounted for the second Cougar score as they hooked up for a 18 yard touchdown to give Escambia a 13-0 lead.
The Lions refused to go down early though, as they used a Andrew Pearce to Cody Owens six yard touchdown pass and a successful conversion to only trail 13-7 after the first quarter.
The Cougars then started out the second quarter much like the first as Norris Brooks took a one- yard counter play in for a touchdown to give the Cougars a 19-7 lead. J.R. Hall then kicked the conversion to make the score 20-7.
White scored the second Cougar touchdown of the quarter with 9:22 left on the clockfrom four yards out after a Cody Norton interception to make the score 26-7. Brooks then scored on the following two-point conversion to give the Cougars a 28-7 lead.
On Kingwood's next possession the Cougars forced and recovered a fumble on the Lion's 34 yard line to give them excellent field position
Montel and Dawson did not let the great field position go to waste as they hooked up for their second touchdown of the half from four yards out to give the Cougars a 35-7 lead.
Then with just over three minutes left to go in the first half the Cougar defense took the scoring in their own hands as Norton intercepted his second pass of the game and took it the distance for a commanding 42-0 lead at halftime.
The Lions scored the first points of the second half as Pearce threw his second touchdown of the night to Gabe Gamche and the Lions cut the Cougars lead to 42-14.
But the Cougars would come right back with two more scores on consecutive drives by White and Brooks to take a insurmountable 55-14 lead.
The Lions would score one more touchdown for the night on a Pearce to Lakin Spinks six yard slant to make the final score 55-22.
"Our guys really came out and took it to Kingwood tonight," Gibson said. "They played hard from start to finish and really kept their focus."
"I can not say enough about our offensive line and the way they have been playing,"Gibson said. "They have really came out and practiced hard and it is showing with the score of every game."
Kevin White and Norris Brooks lead the Cougars in rushing for the game. White had 174 yards on 12 carries and three touchdowns and Brooks had 141 yards on 13 carries and two touchdowns. Bruce Smith also had 64 yards on seven carries for the Cougars.
Josh Montel made the most of his five passes, as he had two completions for 22 yards and two touchdowns. Bucky Dawson caught both of Montel's completions for 22 yards and both touchdowns.
Norris Brooks and Kevin White lead the Cougars in tackles with seven apiece and White had one sack. Joe Drew and and Cody Norton also had six tackles for the Cougars with Norton having two interceptions.
The Cougars defense had a great game as a whole, as they held the Lions to only 76 rushing yards on 28 carries and created five turnovers.
The Cougars next game will be against Meadowview Academy and it will be at home for homecoming. The game will start at 7:30.