By By Tim Cottrell
With a win under their belts, the Escambia County Blue Devils (1-3, 1-2) will take on an old foe Friday night when they host the rival Baldwin County Tigers.
While ECHS head coach Kyle Davis had concerns about his team's depth in comparison to the 6A Tigers, he felt his team could win the game.
"They're still 6A," Davis said. "They've got more depth. But I'd say our first 22 can compete with their first 22. It's pretty close. It comes down to depth, which we're behind on, but if we play offense and defense the way we're capable of we can win."
The Blue Devils have been marred by injuries almost since the beginning of practice, but Davis said most of his players were beginning to heal up.
"Kyler Carter is pretty much out for the season," he said. "We've got another guy out about four weeks. Outside of those two we're looking good and starting to heal up."
Davis noted that he was proud of his team's performance in its win over Hillcrest.
"Our defense shut them out in the second half," he said. "The first half they really only scored on big plays. Our offense played well, but we stopped ourselves a few times. I was proud of them for hanging in there and pulling out a win. We're in good position now to make it to the playoffs."
The ECHS offense, mirrored on Urban Meyer's (current head coach at the University of Florida) spread option attack, has become popular throughout the country in the past couple of years. Davis said the Blue Devils would have an advantage in this game because the Tigers run that offense – so the Blue Devils see it every day in practice.
"We feel like we can attack them," he said. "They run the same offense we do, so our defense has seen it and knows how to defend it. Defensively, they're very multiple. They throw a lot of formations at you, and that's something we're worried about. They've run a 5-2, a 3-4, and everything in between. They can give you a lot of looks, but that's just something we'll have to prepare for. I feel like this is a game we can win."
The Blue Devils will host Baldwin County Friday night at 7 p.m. The game will be sponsored by the PCI Gaming Board.