By By Matthew Nascone
The Escambia Academy Cougars football team was able to do what they have done best for the past couple years against the Sparta Warriors May 17 in a spring scrimmage, sit on a lead and run the ball.
The Cougars were down 6-0 late in the second quarter, but as the half neared the close Jon Dean busted through the Warriors' defensive line and scampered for 57 yards to pay dirt and Kaweta Coon powered it in for the two-point conversion and an 8-6 lead.
The score did not change at all in the second half and the Cougars won 8-6 behind what head coach Heath Gibson called a spectacular defensive effort.
"Our defense looked real good out there," Gibson said. "We were flying all over the field and hitting people in the mouth. Coach (Mitchell) Hughes took over as defensive coordinator and he has done a great job getting them ready for next year."
Gibson said there is a lot of confidence on the defensive side of the ball, but the offense is still trying to learn the new offensive scheme he implemented this year.
"We looked like a team who was running an offense for the first time," he said. "And that is what I expected. I mean these kids have been running the Wing-T since I have been here and we have now gone to a more spread out Wing-T. But they are getting used to it and the second half was proof of that."
Gibson said returning starter at wingback, Dean, looked good on the field.
"Jon Dean looked good out there," Gibson said. "He was running the ball hard and reading his blocks well."
Gibson said the game was a confidence builder going into the summer and it is always good to win the scrimmage game even though it is only a scrimmage.