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Escambia Academy cranked up the heat as the game went along and the Cougars beat Clarke Prep 27-16 tonight in their home opener at Bachelor Field in Canoe.

With the victory, EA claimed its first win of the season. Head football coach Larry Nichols won his first as the lead coach.

“I’m really excited,” Nichols said after the win. “My boys played really good tonight. We came out pretty good in the first half. In the second half, we came out a little sluggish, but we caught ourselves.”

EA improves to 1-2 overall, and 1-1 in AISA Class 3A, Region 2. The Cougars host Snook Christian next week in the second of a four-game home stretch.

Throughout the contest, the Cougars’ defense came up big for the home team. EA grabbed a turnover, and turned the ball over on downs during the first quarter. The Cougars made a good defensive stop in the second, and helped secure the victory with a late-game interception in the fourth.

Nichols said he felt the defense played well.

“I’m mighty impressed with them,” he said.

Offensively, the Cougars stuck to the run game early, but opened up the game in the air by the second quarter.

Quarterback Traegan James threw a 55-yard touchdown pass with 4:55 left in the second quarter, and added a 47-yard scoring rush 14 seconds later to help EA go up 14-2. The Cougars recovered an onside kick after their first TD of the game.

James increased the lead after a 5-yard touchdown rush in the third quarter for a 21-9 advantage after a successful point after touchdown by place kicker Grant Sasser.

Clarke Prep never wavered throughout the game.

The Gators got good field position in the fourth quarter, and cut the game to five points with less than 10 minutes left. CPA ran it in from 4 yards out with 9:40 left.

EA then came up with the big interception, and later converted a fourth down play with 3:45 left.

The Cougars went ahead 27-16 with 1:26 left in the game.

During the game, EA spent time getting play calls into the offense.

Nichols said it was an issue, but the team will work on it this week as it prepares for Snook.

“I thought we had it by huddling up, and letting the quarterback run, but we’ve still got to work on that,” he said.

CPA got on the board in the first after recovering a bad snap in the end zone for a safety with 3 minutes on the board.