Escambia Academy isn’t looking back.

After a 42-20 loss to top-ranked Autauga Academy last week, the Cougars have set their sites on Bessemer Academy this Friday for their regular season closer before beginning postseason play on Nov. 3.

“They’re pretty balanced, really,” EA head football coach Hugh Fountain said about BA. “They can throw the ball well, and they can do both (run and pass) equally well. They’re very similar to Autauga, but have a different style of doing it.”

Bessemer Academy (6-4) is led by senior quarterback Ty Hatcher, a Sanford University commit. Hatcher’s father, Chris, is the head coach at Sanford.

Fountain said BA has two good running backs as well. Additionally, they have a big line up front, he said.

Fountain said some keys for the Cougars (8-1) this week are to execute better and no turnovers.

“We didn’t execute well last week,” he said. “We can’t get off to a slow start. Turnovers definitely had a rule for us, especially when we committed them.”

Fountain said the team is only looking at last week’s game to help correct the mistakes and improve in areas of the game.

“We need to ask ourselves, ‘are we really willing to get better?’” he said. “We’ve got to work on ourselves. Mistakes killed us in that game.”

Fountain said this week’s game is an important game, and the Cougars would like to head into the postseason with a 9-1 record.

EA plays Cornerstone in the first round of the playoffs at home on Fri., Nov. 3. The game will serve as the Cougars’ senior night.