Still licking the wounds from last week’s loss to Williamson, Escambia County is turning the corner and focusing on Francis Marion as it looks to end its regular season on a high note tomorrow night at home.

Last week, ECHS suffered a tough 7-2 region loss to WHS in Mobile at Ladd-Peebles Stadium on Oct. 25.

“I told the boys that I was really proud of them,” ECHS head football coach Rico Jackson said. “We’ve had a tremendous season. We want to finish this season as winners on Thursday.”

Jackson added that he hates the way the season panned out. ECHS was sitting in a good position postseason wise when it played top-ranked UMS-Wright at home on Oct. 19. However, back-to-back region losses pushed the playoff picture out of focus for the Atmore team.

The Blue Devils are in a three way tie at 4-3 in Class 4A, Region 1 with Andalusia and Clarke County. Jackson said it comes down to the non-region opponents that a team beats, and how each of those teams did during the season.

“It’s like the luck of the draw,” he said. “Francis Marion would’ve counted for us, but when I did the schedule, they dropped to 1A (from 2A). We would’ve gotten all of their wins.”

Jackson said a win this week would put ECHS as having a winning season for the third time since 1993.

“Atmore’s had at least a six-win season twice since 1993,” he said. “We’ve got a chance to be No. 3. You’re talking about 25 years.”

Francis Marion (5-3) has a good quarterback and skill guys at receiver, Jackson said.

The Rams’ losses have been to Maplesville and Linden, along with Isabella.

Jackson said coaches have treated practice this week like normal.

“We’re going to have to come play and play well,” he said. “I’m excited every week for our kids. It’s senior night. We want to send our seniors out with a win. We want to finish with a winning record.”

Kick off on Thursday is at 7 p.m.