Cedric Pierce was on fire for the Escambia County Blue Devils on Thursday night and the rest of his team supported his performance with solid scoring opportunities of their own.

Pierce led ECHS with 17 points as the Blue Devils extended their winning streak to six games by defeating the Satsuma Gators 58-53 in Satsuma on Thursday night.

The Blue Devils (14-6, 3-0) fell behind early, but picked up the slack and came away with another important win.

Blue Devils head coach Anthony Hayes said his team battled for the victory.

“It was a good win,” he said. “We had a couple of easy wins, but things got tougher in this game. They had a guy who shot lights out, so it more competitive and our guys fought to get the win.”

The Blue Devils were forced to play from behind in the first quarter as the Gators gained a small lead getting on top 17-14.

Escambia County found the magic that has helped them as of late in the second quarter. They took advantage of their offensive power and defensive prowess and were able to outscore the Gators 14-8 to go into halftime leading 28-25.

The Blue Devils used the midgame break to talk things over and come up with a strategy that would help them earn another victory.

Whatever Hayes said to his team at halftime proved to work as they came out of the gate in the third quarter looking like they did to end the first half. Atmore controlled the period as they outscored Satsuma 13-11 to extend their lead to five points.

Leading 41-36 at the start of the fourth, the Blue Devils went point-for-point with the Gators as both teams scored 17 points with the ECHS holding onto their lead to come away with the 58-53 win.

Hayes said he knew his team had a good chance for the win coming into the game.

“I knew coming into our games at Satsuma, we had a good chance,” he said. “I just knew we had to do the little things right.”

The post was important part of the Blue Devils’ victory with forwards Dalvin Craft and Tacorian Brown each scoring 12 points.

Blue Devil Fred Knight added six points, while Tony McAaroy recorded five and Demarcus McMillian and Andrew Rodgers each scored four.

With the season drawing to a close and area play half way over, the Blue Devils hope to continue their strong play by winning the area championship.

Hayes said his team will have to play defense at a high level because he knows they can score the points on offense.

“Our defense is the most important thing,” he said. ‘We have to play great defense for the rest of the season. If we can stop other people from scoring then I know offensively, we can outscore them.”

The Blue Devils next game is on Jan. 27 at home ag ainst the Hillcrest-Evergreen Jaguars.

Games begin at 4:30 p.m.