Escambia Academy comes back to Canoe this week to hold homecoming and host the Southern Academy Cougars in an important region match up.

The Cougars (4-3, 2-2) coming off a 60-7 win over South Choctaw Academy will look to get revenge over Southern who defeated them 28-13 last season in Greensboro.

Southern Academy (2-5, 1-2) comes into this game after suffering a 39-13 loss at the hands of the Clarke Prep Gators last week.

Getting things going quickly against the Cougars will be important in playing for a win, Escambia Academy head coach Heath Gibson said.

“We need to go into this game and play aggressive and start fast like we did against South Choctaw,” he said. “We still need to cut down on turnovers and penalties if we want to give our team the best chance to win.”

With the big win last week, the Cougars hope they start this week like they did last week, Gibson said.

“Running the opening kick off back was really big,” he said. “It put the momentum on our side. When we stopped them right after that on their first drive, it really turned the game in our favor.”

Southern Academy will bring a running offense to Bachelor Field, and the Cougars expect them to stay in it, Gibson said.

“They are going to run the Wing-T,” he said. “They run right at you and they don’t try anything tricky. They never really look to pass and run the ball 90 percent of the time. They stay with what they are comfortable doing.”

Defensively, the Cougars will not prepare for any specific defense after seeing odd formations this season.

Focusing on blocking for anything will be the preparation the offense receives, Gibson said.

“We don’t really know what to expect,” he said. “We try to work our blocking schemes and see how they line up. We have seen the craziest defensive schemes this season, so we never know what someone will throw at our spread option.”

Staying healthy and in tune is the practice goal this week, Gibson said.

“We are pretty healthy at this point,” he said. “Reid Bell and Dustin Wilson are working to get back, but they might be out a couple weeks. We need to hone in our what we are doing and balance our scoring attack.”

The Cougars and Cougars kick of at 7 p.m. on Friday at Bachelor Field.