There have been ups and downs for the Escambia Academy Cougars who five games into their 2010 season sport a 3-2 record with the bulk of their region games left ahead of them.

The Cougars are 1-1 in their region and have several must-win games in front of them if they want to reach the playoffs for a second consecutive season.

Escambia Academy head coach Heath Gibson said as his team hits the middle of their season he has seen good and bad.

“There have been some bright spots,” Gibson said. “To me, we have had some unexpected things that have been really good, but we have also had things that we expected to be good that need to be addressed.”

Success for the Cougars in all of their wins and even their losses has been their ability to pound out yards through the ground game with running back Jaylen Henry already securing more than 1,300 yards and 18 touchdowns.

Gibson said he has never seen one of his teams run the ball so well.

“Running the football has definitely been our strongest asset,” he said. “The number of yards we have rushed for so far this season has been incredible. It’s the most that we have gained since I have been here. It’s been about our great line play and hard running.”

Defensively, the Cougars have not been as strong as they were last year and are continuously addressing issues.

Gibson said the play of his linebackers has been a problem from the beginning of the season.

“We are still working hard defensively,” Gibson said. “A lot of work is focused on our linebackers. We are still struggling in that area because they are so young. They are inexperienced and really aggressive. Being that aggressive hurts us because if they counter or do misdirections.”

For more on this story see Saturday’s edition of The Atmore Advance.