Seventh-ranked Escambia Academy is facing a quality opponent in Lee-Scott Academy on Friday night in the quarterfinals of the AISA Class 3A state playoffs.

“They’re going to be a very tough opponent,” EA head football coach Hugh Fountain said. “They’re a lot like us. They’ve got an outstanding running game, they play good defense and they’re a good football team.

“It’s going to be a tough game,” he said.

The Warriors are entering the contest on a six-game win streak. The last time LSA lost was in a 28-25 contest to Bessemer Academy. The Cougars fell to BA 20-8 last week.

For LSA, it all starts with running back Mitchell Lewis, who is the Warriors’ go-to guy, much like the Cougars’ Kris Brown, also a running back.

“They’re totally different,” Fountain said about Lewis and Brown. “He’s fast. The way he reminds me of Kris is that they rely on him a lot. He does have breakaway speed.

“We know that from the state championship,” he said. “Mitchell is about 220 pounds, and bigger.”

Fountain said the Warriors crowd the ball well on defense and they are in the right spots when they need to be.

LSA defensive coordinator Robert Maddox coached at Troy University in the 1980s, and Fountain said there aren’t many weaknesses on the Warriors’ defense.

“They coral the football real well,” he said.

Cutting the number of penalties, controlling the ball game and not turning the ball over are the three main keys to the game this week, Fountain said.

“We’ve got to tackled No. 21 (Lewis),” he said. “Offensively, we’ve got to put some points on the board.”

This week’s game will be the first time in four years since the Cougars have played LSA, and the first time they will visit the Auburn team.

Kick off Friday night is at 7.