By By Chandler Myers
The color yellow made Escambia County coaches, players and fans sick Friday night at Citronelle High School, where the Blue Devils were defeated 20-7 by the Citronelle Wildcats.
The Blue Devils (2-6, 1-5) were penalized 13 times for 105 yards in a game that was closer then what the scoreboard showed.
Citronelle started the scoring in the first quarter on a five-yard dash by running back Ontario Little. Little finished the game with 190 yards and two touchdowns against the Blue Devil defense.
Head coach Kyle Davis said his team played hard, but just could not catch breaks with penalties.
Even with penalties, the Blue Devils’ offense drove the ball down the field all night long.
Sophomore quarterback Rico Stallworth led the charge for the Blue Devils with more than 135 yards of total offense. Stallworth finished the game completing 10-of-21 passes for 111 yards, while running the ball 15 times for 28 yards.
Davis said Stallworth played a great game and showed the kind of quarterback he has the makings of.
After the opening ECHS drive, the Wildcats pushed the ball down to the red zone, but the Blue Devils defense stepped up kept Citronelle from scoring a touchdown. Great play inside their own 10-yard line along with a sack by junior Shay Gibson for a 17-yard loss forced a 23-yard field goal by Wildcats kicker Andrew McCollough.
With time running down before the half, the Blue Devils would make a drive down the field capitalized by passes from Stallworth to junior receiver Jon Dean. Dean made receptions of 37, 12 and eight yards before the drive was cut short by an interception at the Wildcats one-yard line. At the half Citronelle led 10-0.
ECHS came out in the second half with a different look in their eyes. The look of determination surfaced through the line of players as they prepared for the third quarter.
After going three-and-out, the Blue Devils forced a fumble on the Wildcats first down, and they began to drive down the field again.
Runs by Stallworth, senior running back Michael Thomas and freshman wide receiver Deandre Riley pushed the Blue Devils offense to the Wildcats 19-yard line. ECHS was kept scoreless, as on fourth down the field goal attempt by senior kicker Nikola Radojicic was blocked and taken back to the Blue Devils 46-yard line.
The Wildcats would drive again through the legs of Little, but would settle for another field goal to take the lead 13-0 early in the fourth quarter.
Down by two touchdowns, the Blue Devils regrouped on offense and put together their best drive of the night.
Thomas led the drive breaking runs of 14, 20, and 12 yards on his way to a touchdown with 8:21 remaining in the game to close the gap 13-7.
After forcing a punt, ECHS was stopped again on fourth down and gave the ball back to the Wildcats with little time left.
Little took the ball and scrambled a total of 55 yards on his way to the end zone. Little broke runs of 35, one and five yards before scoring and scoring the final touchdown of the game to make the score 20-7.
Wildcats head coach Eddie Stephenson said ECHS outplayed his team in a game where they could have just not shown up.
Davis said that a young team like his showed a lot of heart by showing up ready to play the game. He added that even with just a slim chance of making it to the playoffs, they wanted to give it their all.
The Blue Devils travel to Mobile to take on their last district game against St. Paul's. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.