By By Matthew Nascone
The Escambia Academy Cougars face a tough test in their final game of the season. The 5-4 Cougars will attempt to take down 7-1 Faith Academy to end the season with a winning record.
"We will lay everything on the line," EA head coach Heath Gibson said. "They are a good team and we will have to play our best to win this one."
Faith is at the top of AISA Class 3A Region 1 standings this season and Gibson said they have a little bit of a different look in the past.
"They have a lot of speed they will throw at us," he said. "And in years past they have usually been big and physical, but we will try to adjust accordingly."
The Cougars will have to make some adjustments from last year's effort against Faith, a 39-0 loss. Faith is the biggest AISA school, by far, at close to 2,000 students. The second biggest school is only 800 students strong, so Gibson said that always plays into the minds of the players, but he approached the game a little differently this year.
"We have studied film on these guys," Gibson said. "And when we watched them on film (Monday), I wanted the guys to see they are a finesse team this year. And when they saw that they got excited because it took that big, physical persona away from Faith. Seeing that gave our kids some confidence that we have a chance to be in the game the whole time."
The Cougars will be leaving everything on the field and will try to open it up on offense, Gibson said. And there will be no changes defensively. If the Cougars have one thing going for them, it is a huge win last week.
"Last week was just one of those weeks when everything was clicking and we had a bunch of one-play scoring drives," Gibson said. "And we hope we can carry that into this week's game."
When the teams hit the field, the Cougar defense will have to make sure where Faith's quarterback, T.J. Walker, is at all times.
"He throws the ball well and he is a big kid who is also fast," Gibson said.
Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. at Bachelor Field and all the senior football players and cheerleaders will be honored before the game, starting at 7 p.m.