Final Four-tunate
Published 5:00 am Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Escambia County Blue Devils guard Tony McAroy sets up a play in the Blue Devils’ South Region finals match up against
By winning the South Region championship, the No. 4 Escambia County Blue Devils earned a berth in the AHSAA Final 48 at 7:30 p.m. today in Birmingham. With that victory, ECHS also earned a shot to dethrone the defending Class 4A state champion and current No. 1 Butler Rebels.
The Blue Devils (27-4, 6-0) make the trip to Birmingham for today’s Final Four match up in the hopes they will upset the No. 1 team in the state and get a chance to play for their first state championship.
Going up against the Rebels (24-6, 6-0) will be no easy task. They are led by guard Justin Pride who leads them in scoring with 19.7 points per game, as well as in assists with 5.9 per game. In the post, forward Marcus Drake leads the team in rebounding with 9.5 per game.
Butler won the Northwest Region championship by getting revenge on West Limestone 43-36. West Limestone had previously beaten the Rebels in their area championship game.
Escambia County comes into the contest on a 26-game winning streak that began after a 1-4 start to the season. Since that start, the Blue Devils have won their county tournament, went through their area play and area tournament undefeated and pulled off three fourth-quarter comebacks in the postseason.
The winner of this game will advance to the AHSAA state championship game to be played at 11 a.m. on Saturday morning. They will play the winner of the Oneonta/Midfield Final Four match up.
Escambia County and Butler will tip off at 7:30 p.m. today at the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Center in Birmingham.