By By Tim Cottrell
(Editor's note: The Escambia County Blue Devils took on UMS-Wright Tuesday night at 7 p.m. in Mobile in a game rescheduled from Friday. The game was completed after press-time for the Advance, so results from the game will be in Sunday's issue.)
The Escambia County Blue Devils face an unenviable task this week, taking on the No. 1 team in 4A on Tuesday and then following that up with another tough task when they host the Andalusia Bulldogs Saturday night.
Blue Devil head coach Kyle Davis was not looking forward to game-planning for two teams at once, but said he and his team would just have to deal with it.
"Tonight's (Tuesday) a big test," Davis said, referring to the Blue Devils' game with UMS. "We did have a little extra time. Last week was so messed up. I felt like we were getting them prepared, and then we got a call Thursday as I was going to practice that said we weren't going to play, so I took them off game plan and started to work on some stuff we needed to fix and then get them ready for Andalusia. Then Coach (Terry) Curtis called and said we were rescheduling, so we came in on Sunday and had a good practice and then came out yesterday morning for a walkthrough."
After getting the Bulldogs from UMS out of the way, Davis will then have only three days to prepare for the Bulldogs from Andalusia.
"We'll bring them in Wednesday in shoulder pads and shorts and do a thorough walkthrough for Andalusia," Davis said. "We'll come out Thursday and treat it like a Tuesday practice and go full pads. Friday we're going to go shoulder pads and shorts again. The main reason for the shoulder pads and shorts is just the conditioning."
Davis also noted that the Blue Devils already had a good barometer for how Andalusia would defend them.
"The good thing is Straughn (Andalusia's opening opponent) runs the exact same offense we do," he said. "So we can see exactly how they're going to defend us. We're faster and more athletic, but Andalusia is very strong. They're young too, and sometimes I say they're too young and dumb to know they're not going to win every game. This will be a physical game and a good test for us."
Davis believed the next two games would tell the tale for the rest of the season
"We played with T.R. Miller," Davis said. "Now we get to find out if that was just one game or if that's the way we're going to play. If we come out and play hard and hang with UMS, I think we'll have a good season. If we come out and look like deer in the headlights we might have to reevaluate things. These are both going to be physical games."
The Blue Devils will host Andalusia Saturday night at 7 p.m. at Herbert Barnes Stadium. The game is being presented by First National Bank of Atmore, and donations for Hurricane Katrina relief will be accepted.s entering the stadium.