Escambia Academy showed their strength last week in their loss to the No. 5 Patrician Academy Saints.

The Cougars (3-3, 1-2) fought back from a 28-7 deficit to tie the game at 28 only to lose 34-28 in overtime.

With that loss, the Cougars saw they could compete with a top team, but also found that they need a little extra work if they want to come away with a victory.

This week, the Cougars take their act on the road hoping to secure another region win this time over the South Choctaw Academy Rebels.

A win would put the Cougars back on track to keep pace in the region and playoff hunts. The Rebels (1-5, 1-2) are fresh off of a 72-26 loss to the Clarke Prep Gators.

After their own disappointing loss, the Cougars will see how good they are by bouncing back in this game, Escambia Academy Cougars head coach Heath Gibson said.

“We need to know how good of a team we really are,” he said. “Coming off of a disappointing loss can be tough, but we need to step up and get a win this week.”

The Rebels’ offense will throw several different things at the Cougars this week.

A lot of running and passing will be what the Cougars focus on this week in practice, Gibson said.

“They’ll line up in an I-form and also spread things out,” he said. “When they get in the I-form, they’ll come right at us with the run, but they’ll jump out into the spread and throw the ball. They’ll work to keep our defense busy.”

Last week’s win showed Gibson the type of players he has, but he said this week will show him even more.

“Our comeback against Patrician showed me that our players have a lot of heart,” he said. “This week we’ll see if that carries over. This will be a character building week.”

With five games gone from the season, the Cougars are still trying to turn a corner.

Improvement has been seen each week giving hope, Gibson said.

“We are getting better every week,” he said. “I feel like if we make a statement this week then we are in for a good second half of the season.”

The Cougars and Rebels kick off at 7 p.m. on Friday night at Jackson Memorial Stadium.