By By Chandler Myers
Escambia County’s gym is going to be packed to the brim this weekend.
It will be packed full with fans of four high schools cheering on their respective teams as they fight for the chance to be the champion of Escambia County.
The Escambia County basketball tournament is taking place this weekend, and ECHS is hosting it in the new gym.
Games tip off on Friday night, as the Lady Blue Devils face the W.S. Neal Lady Blue Eagles beginning at 6 p.m. Boys follow at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, the Blue Devils face the T.R. Miller Tigers, with the Lady Blue Devils tipping off at 1 p.m., and the Blue Devils’ game beginning at 2:30 p.m.
Monday, the tournament concludes with ECHS’s Blue Devils and Lady Blue Devils facing off against the Hurricanes and Lady Hurricanes. The ladies play first and start at 6 p.m., while the boys close out the county tournament, with tip off at 7:30 p.m.
Come out and support Atmore’s team this weekend. Bring family and friends to the games and help cheer on the ECHS teams in their quest, for the Escambia County championship.
The Blue Devils (4-6) are a combined 3-0 against Flomaton and Miller this season. ECHS opened the season at home with a 96-57 win over the Hurricanes (6-4), and defeated them 57-49 two weeks later in Flomaton. Against Miller (1-4), the Blue Devils struggled early, but came back strong in the final three quarters and won 62-54 over the Tigers.
The Blue Devils have not faced W.S. Neal this season, but should face a good Blue Eagles team that comes into their match up with a 7-2 record.
The Lady Blue Devils (7-3) are a combined 2-1 with both wins coming over Flomaton and the loss to Miller.
On opening night, the Lady Blue Devils defeated the Lady Hurricanes (6-4) 64-34, and again on Dec. 2 winning 53-36. The Lady Tigers (3-0) defeated ECHS 50-38.
W.S. Neal and ECHS have not faced off this season, but the Lady Eagles come into the game at 4-1,which should give the Lady Blue Devils another strong match up.
All of the games should be full of action with the teams from ECHS boasting quick moving offenses that when on fire can score a lot of points.
Even if you can only make it out to one or two of the games, the support will mean a lot to the players and coaches of all the teams, and the more noise that the Blue Devils can get behind them could rattle their opponents into missing more shots.
So, come out and pack the stands for some great basketball action.
The only reason to even think about missing this tournament is for bowl games, but the good games don’t start until after Christmas, which really means there is not an excuse to miss this.
Chandler Myers is sports editor of the Atmore Advance. He can be reached at 368-2123.