By By Matthew Nascone
The Escambia Academy Cougars football team, with a record of 2-2, will host the 2-2 Marengo Academy Bulldogs in a game that EA head coach Heath Gibson calls an even matchup.
"I feel like we match up well with them," he said.
Besides identical records, both teams control the ball with their ground game and throw an occasional pass to keep defenses honest. Gibson said the team who can keep control of the ball will win the game.
Marengo will throw a twist at EA because they use two different signal callers based on the game situation. Gibson said Clayton Crocker will take snaps when Marengo wants to pass the ball and Jesse Morgan will run the option offense for Marengo.
"They have a tendency to run the option and we will try and shut that down to force them to pass the ball," Gibson said. "We want to make Morgan put it in the air."
The Cougars switched Cody Norton back to quarterback in EA's 26-7 victory over Jackson Academy. That is the position he made his home in 2005 and Gibson said Norton will stay at quarterback and Jon Dean, who started the first three games at QB, will remain at wingback with Kevin Maher.
"Cody did a good job at QB for us last week and Jon did well at wingback, so why mess with what works," Gibson said. "It seems to help our team better in that scenario."
Gibson said the key to the game will be how well EA can control the Marengo defensive front.
"Hopefully we can control up front on our offensive line and that will be a key to victory," he said.
Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.