With the playoffs ahead and a winning season intact, the Escambia County Blue Devils are now focused on bettering their regular season record and defeating another rival.

The Blue Devils (6-3, 4-3) travel to Bay Minette this week to conclude their regular season with a rivalry game against the Baldwin County Tigers.

The Tigers (0-9, 0-7) are still in search of their first win in order to avoid an 0-10 season.

Blue Devils head coach Mark Heaton said adding one more win to the team’s record would be a big step.

“This gives us a chance to finish 7-3,” Heaton said. “We have secured a winning season, but finishing 7-3 is a lot better than finishing 6-4. I already told our kids that our main concern is that this is a rivalry game that we need to win. Second, we have had trouble putting together a string of games where we play with high intensity. That’s important for us to accomplish as we get closer to the playoffs.”

With the Blue Devils defense improving along the way this season, they will look to continue with a strong performance against the Tigers’ offense.

Heaton said Baldwin County will show several different sets during the game.

“They do a lot of different things,” he said. “They seem like they have trouble finding an identity with what they do.They line up in a double wing, a spread and even a two or three-back set. We are looking at a lot of versatile things.”

On the other side of the ball, the Blue Devils want to continue to find sucess out of their offense by creating match up problems for Bay Minette.

Heaton said he will try to spread out their linebackers to free up the line or scrimmage.

“They run a 4-4,” he said. “We are going to try and spread them out and get some linebackers out of the box.”

In order to find success and a victory against the Tigers, ECHS must play a sound game.

Heaton said avoiding mistakes will be key in winning.

“Not turning the ball over is the most important thing,” he said.”we need to be a sharp, crisp football team in order to win.”

With a win, the Blue Devils will finish 7-3 as they prepare for the playoffs.

Heaton said it would be huge for his team to get to that point.

“That would say a lot about the desire of these young men,” he said. “This is just the fifth winning season for this program in the last 25 years, so it will be a milestone. It would be a great way to end our first regular season.”

The Blue Devils and Tigers kick off at 7 p.m. Friday night in Bay Minette.