By Staff
Chuck Bodiford
The Escambia County Blue Devils traveled to Gulf Shores where they faced off against the Dolphins. Both teams played with a fierce intensity, however, only one team could walk off the field victorious. After coming from behind to take the lead, the Dolphins won Friday night's game 41-38.
Opening up the game the Dolphins received the ball, but was soon forced to punt where Blue Devil senior, Kendrick McNeil carried the ball up the field 46-yards. This was followed by senior Delron Staples who took a carry from junior Calvin Hartley for 40-yards, scoring the first touchdown of the night. The PAT following was no good. A shallow kick allowed the Dolphins to take possession on the 45-yard line. After Dolphin quarterback, Tony Ybarra ran on a couple of keepers he found Patrick Wilkinson in the end zone for a complete pass with 4:12 in the first quarter followed with a successful PAT by Thomas Martin. The Devils then received the ball getting it to Staples who again ran the ball in for a touchdown, this time for 67-yards. A two-point conversion was unsuccessful. The Devils applied some more heat to the Dolphins when senior Willie Taylor intercepted a pass from the Dolphin's Ybarra. With a hard diligent press freshman Jarrod Jefferson was able to run the ball in off a carry for the Devils third touchdown of the night with 2:51 on the clock followed by a successful PAT by freshman Elliot Faircloth. Later in the second quarter, Derek Raines off a carry scored the Dolphins second touchdown of the night with the following PAT called good by the officials. This would be matched with Hartley running for 25-yards scoring another touchdown for the Devils. The Devils once again went for the two-point conversion but was unsuccessful in this second attempt. After three attempts the Dolphin's Ybarra was able to finally get a complete pass to Joey Moxley scoring a touchdown for the Dolphins with 36 seconds left in the half. The Devils tried to widen their lead leaving the first half, but fell short of another touchdown by 2-yards.
Just as the Dolphins were forced to punt after receiving the ball in opening of the first half, the Devils followed suit in the opening of the second half. After a downpour of first downs, Ybarra made a touchdown for the Dolphins off a 12-yard carry. This was followed by once again, a successful PAT. With only one touchdown in the third quarter, both teams entered the fourth quarter with only three points separating the two titans in favor of the Dolphins. The Dolphins scored first in this last part of the game with Ybarra running in off a keeper with 9:57 on the clock followed by an unsuccessful PAT. The Devils followed that with McNeil running a 51-yard touchdown. The Devils two-point conversion was no good. Ybarra and Wilkinson move the ball down the field with a pass gaining 24-yards, which is then followed by Ybarra scoring on another keeper with 7:22 on the clock. The PAT was good. With 3:24 on the clock the Devils scored their last touchdown of the night with McNeil running in off a carry followed by a successful PAT by Faircloth.
Slowly the scoreboard counted down to the Devils defeat as they left Mickey Miller Blackwell Stadium trailing only by three points. The final score was 41-38.