It was an up and down night for Escambia Academy Cougars head coach Heath Gibson who saw his Cougars lose to the Fort Dale Academy Eagles on senior night, but also left Bachelor Field in a hurry following the game to welcome his newborn child to the world.

The Cougars (4-6, 2-4) played up to their competition early, but the match up against a larger team proved to be too much as they fell 35-14.

Gibson said he was proud of the effort his team gave against an opponent with more depth.

“All of our guys went out there and played hard tonight,” Gibson said. “We were just out manned against a larger opponent. We had a ton of effort from everyone, and I’m really proud of how our kids played.”

The Cougars jumped out to an early 14-0 lead due in part to two touchdowns by running back Jaylen Henry who scored his 29th touchdown of the season on a three-yard scamper to the end zone and followed that up on the Academy’s next series with an 85-yard foot race to pay dirt.

Henry would finish the game with 20 carries for 250 yards and two touchdowns in the loss.

After those two touchdowns, the momentum swung drastically in Fort Dale’s favor as they would ramble off for 42 unanswered points beginning in the first quarter with an 85-yard touchdown pass.

The Eagles followed that up with three more touchdowns before halftime to go into the locker room up 28-14.

After halftime, Fort Dale continued to put points on the board scoring 14 more to go ahead of the Cougars 42-14 with time winding down in the fourth quarter.

The Cougars finally put together a strong drive after Cameron McGhee intercepted a pass and returned it 45 yards to set up good field position for the Cougars.

Starting at the 50, EA drove down to the 15 in five plays. On the sixth play, quarterback Michael Thompson rolled out and hit receiver Wesley Steadham with a 15-yard pass that Steadham pulled in and drug his toes to get the touchdown. The extra point was missed sitting the score at 42-20.

Thompson completed 7-of-12 passes for 36 yards for a touchdown, while rushing five times for 23 yards. Steadham had the one reception for 15 yards to go with eight carries for 31 yards.

After the Cougars final touchdown, the teams traded possessions with time winding down.

The Cougars travel to Monroeville next Friday to take on the Monroe Academy Volunteers. Kick off is at 7 p.m.