Escambia County is facing a similar opponent in Monroe County this week for senior night and the Blue Devils’ season closer.

Last week, ECHS fell 38-8 to St. Paul’s in a game that got out of hand early.

Blue Devils head football coach Royce Young said St. Paul’s returned the opening kick off for a touchdown, and then scored again a couple series later to make it 14-0.

The Blue Devils then capitalized on a long pass to the red zone, but didn’t come through on the touchdown try.

“We didn’t take advantage of the opportunity, and it got out of hand quick,” Young said. “It was 35-0 at halftime.”

Young said a lot of the junior varsity guys played during the second half, which was a positive.

“We managed to score in the second half, and after that, our starters came out and our JV and their JV played even in the second half,” he said. “There’s the silver lining.”

The Tigers (3-5) have the same number of kids as ECHS, Young said.

“The number of kids they play both ways, we’re both in line with that,” the coach said. “That’s going to be about as even as we’ve had all season. Athletically, we have a fairly even match up.”

Young said Monroe County’s quarterback is pretty shifty and can move the ball with his feet and arm.

“He has a couple of different receivers he likes to throw to,” Young said. “When we played them last year at their place, it went back and forth. Fortunately, we had the ball last and we went down and scored.”

The Blue Devils won last year’s contest 42-30.

With it being the last week of the season for the Blue Devils, Young said he hopes his guys want a win more.

“I think the bottom line is that they’ve won a few games,” he said. “This one may boil down to which one wants it the most. I hope they don’t want it more than our kids. They’re playing for and getting close to breaking even. We’ll have to see how much effort we put into practice this week.”

Practice and preparation for the game is the big key this week, Young said.

“I told them after the game at St. Paul’s that those of you who are ready for this to be over for the year, and those of you don’t want it to be over, you’ve got one more week,” Young said. “We’ve got a bunch of seniors, but I’ve been with the group of seniors both years I’ve been here. As time goes on, you have one group of kids. You hate to see them go.

“We’ll see how they prepare,” he said.

Kick off in Atmore is at 7 p.m. on Friday.