By By Tim Cottrell
After one of the most impressive wins in school history, the Cougars of Escambia Academy must hit the road to finish the job on a region championship.
A 36-14 win last week over Kingwood Academy gave the Cougars sole possession of first place in AISA's Class 2A East Region, and one win over either Meadowview this week or Abbeville next week will give the Cougars the region title.
Following such an impressive performance, EA head coach Heath Gibson was concerned about the possibility of a letdown.
"That's a big concern," he said. "I told a few people today that I was worried about that. We're going to let the team know this week how important this game is. We're going to do everything we can to prevent it."
The Trojans of Meadowview Academy enter the contest with a 5-2 record both in the region and overall. Gibson said his team was facing a scary match up.
"I know they zone block everything," Gibson said. "They like to run the iso play. They've got a real good tailback, and they just let him pick his spot and go. Defensively then run a 50 and a 40. We're not really sure what they're going to run against us, because everybody has run something different than they normally run this season."
The Cougars have been relatively untouched by the injury bug this season, but an injury to Terrell Still midway through last week's game was a concern.
"We don't know yet about it," Gibson said. "He was supposed to go to the doctor today. We'll know a little bit more pretty quick. Outside of that everyone else is fine."
Coming into the 2005 season, many expected the Cougars to have a down year after losing 12 starters from the 2004 squad. Gibson credited every bit of the team's success to the hard work of the players.
"This is the hardest working bunch I've ever had," Gibson said. "They're a bunch of overachievers. These guys didn't win a game when they were in JV in the ninth grade, and it's really a tribute to how hard these guys have worked over the last three years that we're where we are today."
As he prepared for Friday night's match up, Gibson said the Cougars may have to be more concerned about themselves than about Meadowview.
"I feel like if we come in there and play up to our expectations we'll do all right," he said. "Now if we do go in there and have a letdown and don't do what we're supposed to we're going to be in for a long night."
The Cougars will travel to Selma Friday night to take on the Trojans at 7:30 p.m.