By Andrew Garner

Editor

Escambia County will be facing adversity on two fronts this week as the Blue Devils will be playing without three of their starters and Vigor, a powerhouse in Alabama.

“Anybody that’s been around these parts and when people say Vigor, they say, ‘oh,’” ECHS head football coach Royce Young said. “They’re a traditional powerhouse in Alabama. They’ve won numerous state championships, and had several players go on to play D-1 ball.”

The Blue Devils are coming off a tough 42-14 loss to W.S. Neal. ECHS trailed 42-0 at one point during the game before scraping in a couple touchdowns.

Even though the loss was hard, the Blue Devils lost their starting tail back in Gaeytn Thames due to a knee injury during the game.

“He’s out for the week for sure and possibly for the season,” Young said.

Additionally, Devante Lee also suffered a knee injury, and starting center Wilson Willis Williams suffered a concussion and will be out for a few weeks.

The focus this week for the Blue Devils is simple, Young said.

“We have to pay attention to us right now more than anything else,” he said. “We’re still making far too many mistakes. We’ll have three new starters on the offensive side of the ball. We’re just going to have to use our few practice days to get guys plugged in and caught up; and get going from back up to starter.”

Young said the key to getting players up to speed and in the starting role is to give them as many repetitions as possible, adding that it’s tough to get them game ready in such a short amount of time. Repetitions are the number of times a player goes through a drill or play in a given practice.

In the loss last week, ECHS tallied 275 yards, with most coming in the second half, according to The Brewton Standard.

In the first half, ECHS had only 72 yards rushing and one passing yard. In the second half, ECHS had 193 yards on the ground and nine yards passing.

For ECHS, Timothy Finklea led with 89 yards on eight carries and had one touchdown. Devante Dailey added 63 yards on six carries and scored on a 28-yard touchdown run.

Kick off Friday is at 7 p.m.