The Escambia County Blue Devils were clicking on all cylinders Friday night when they took the field against the Baldwin County Tigers.

The Blue Devils (7-3, 4-3) rolled up and down the field on the Tigers (0-10, 0-7) scoring 28 points offensively with their lone defensive touchdown coming on a 10-yard interception return by linebacker Domineque Hubert.

Blue Devils head coach Mark Heaton said he was pleased with how hard his team played for the entire 60 minutes.

“I’m really proud of the guys for playing at a high intensity for four quarters,” Heaton said. “We were sound fundamentally, and I felt like the kids treated it like a playoff game, which is what we asked them to do.”

The Blue Devils and Tigers each opened the game with series ending in punts, but on the second Atmore series, the Blue Devils found their stride.

In a seven-play drive, the Blue Devils drove 57 yards with freshman quarterback Chris Johnson and senior running back Rico Stallworth picking up chunks of yards. Stallworth picked up 30 yards on the drive, while Johnson gained 33 yards including a 20-yard scamper to the end zone. After a missed extra point, the Blue Devils led 6-0.

After forcing another Baldwin County punt, the Blue Devils drove the field again to pay dirt this time moving 70 yards in six plays

On the score, Blue Devils fullback Chris Smith plowed his way through the Tigers’ defensive line for a three-yard touchdown to put the Blue Devils ahead 14-0 early in the second quarter after Johnson hit Stallworth for a two-point conversion.

The Tigers finally got on the board for their only touchdown in their next series as they drove down the field using a passing game.

Their lone touchdown came on a five-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Nathan Jones to wide receiver Quinton Jones to cut the Atmore lead to 14-7.

It looked as if the Tigers were going to work their way back into the game after forcing the Blue Devils to punt the ball.

With the ball on their own six-yard line, Jones dropped back to pass, but was picked off by Blue Devils linebacker Domineque Hubert who returned it 10 yards for the touchdown to put the Blue Devils on top 21-7 with the second quarter winding down.

After the interception, it was another series and another punt for the Tigers as they had to give the Blue Devils the ball back with just under two minutes to go before halftime.

ECHS took advantage of their time and put Stallworth in at his natural position of quarterback. The move paid off as Stallworth hit Carl Staples with a 48-yard bomb to get the Blue Devils down to the Tigers’ 23. After the next play was called back due to an ineligible receiver, Marshall Rolin took a sweep and ran 17 yards to get the Blue Devils to the Tigers’ 11. Stallworth then hit running back Neiko Williams on an 11-yard pass for the score to put ECHS up 28-7 at the half.

Heaton said his offense has really come along during the last few games.

“Since the Saraland game, we have made some personnel changes and I think it has helped our offense,” he said. “They know they needed to move forward and get better because our defense has been playing well. We need both sides of the ball working to be successful.”

The Tigers would take the ball after halftime, but were unable to make anything happen and on their punt the ball went backwards setting the Blue Devils up at the Baldwin County 25.

On the first play from scrimmage for ECHS, Stallworth took an end around and scooted past defenders with the pigskin to score giving Atmore a 28-point lead at 35-7.

After that each team would fight back-and-forth with neither gaining ground and the clocking running short to give Atmore a 7-3 finish to the regular season.

Next week, the Blue Devils face Andalusia at Andalusia in the first round of the playoffs.

Heaton said he, his staff and team will go to work on Saturday to begin preparations.

“We are very thankful to have the opportunity to keep playing,” he said. “God has been good to us this season. We haven’t even looked at film yet and we’ll start doing that tomorrow morning. We are just thankful for the opportunity.”

Escambia County and Andalusia kick off next Friday at 7 p.m. at Andalusia High School.