By Staff
Chuck Bodiford
Thursday night the Escambia County Blue Devils traveled to Flomaton to play this week's home game against the Choctaw County Tigers. As the Tiger's band waved there white flags of surrender, the Devils were able regain the lead as the second half wrapped up walking from the field victorious leading 16-14.
After receiving the ball, the Choctaw made a steady advancement toward their goal line. Unfortunately for the Tigers, sophomore Brandon McKenzie intercepted a pass for the Devils, running the ball from around the Devil's 21-yard line back to Choctaw's 40. Small amounts of yardage were gained through various plays by the Devils offense by way of Kendick McNeil, Calvin Hartley and Chris Andrews. This changed when McNeil ran for 45 yards off a carry scoring the first touchdown of the night with 6:22 on the clock. Elliot Faircloth, kicker for the Devils, started off a successful night scoring his first PAT of the game. The ball moved back and forth from the Tigers to the Devils as both teams were forced to punt to the opposing team. After a lengthy stalemate between the two teams the Devils found themselves in position for a field goal attempt. With 6:06 in the second quarter Faircloth made another good kick gaining the Devils three additional points. The Choctaw Tigers Came back scoring a touchdown of their own off a carry with 5:51 left in the first half. Attempting a two-point conversion the Devils stopped the play one-yard short of the goal line.
On the kickoff return the Devils fumbled allowing Choctaw to take possession. The Tigers once again pushed hard for the goal line resulting in another touchdown for the Tigers scoring off a carry with 6:08 in the third. The Tigers once again attempted the two-point conversion where the Tiger's quarterback ran in off a keeper. For the first time of the night the Tigers led the Devils 14-10. The rest of the game was marked by penalties until Hartley made the Devils second touchdown of the night off a keeper with only 2:20 left in the game. The PAT was no good as the ball was dropped before getting to the kicker resulting in two Tigers running into each other head to head. The Devils were able to hold off the Tigers from scoring to win this week's game 16-14.
Mardye McDole said, "The players fought really hard and stayed in the game the whole night not giving up. These guys (Tiger players) play some very physical ball, something that we needed."