Congratulations are in store for two of Atmore’s area teams as the Escambia County Blue Devils and Escambia Academy Cougars won tournaments over the weekend with the Blue Devils winning the Escambia County tournament and the Cougars winning the Christmas tournament hosted by Fort Dale Academy.

For the Blue Devils, this marks the third consecutive county tournament they have won.

This year, they did it in even more deciding fashion as they crushed all three of their opponents with one of those wins, a victory over W.S. Neal coming by 57 points.

ECHS has come to life in recent weeks after starting the season off slow.

They have rebounded and have won four consecutive games and look to continue that streak after Christmas break is over.

Several players stepped up their game for the county tournament including tournament MVP Andrew Rodgers.

Rodgers has played well this season, but really turned it on during the tournament as he led the Blue Devils in each of their three games.

Fred Knight was also named to the All-Tournament team for his performance during the tournament.

Knight played strong on defense and put up points to help keep ECHS ahead in their three wins.

For the Cougars this marks the eighth straight win since their season opened with a holiday tournament at Lowndes Academy.

The Cougars sit at 8-0 with the bulk of their season remaining, but no real challenges have been brought to their attention yet.

Head coach Kevin Woods has them playing at a high level with Darron McGhee, Tanner Kirk and Keaton Maher helping keep EA out of the loss column.

McGhee and Maher have really been on top of their game with each coming away with a tournement MVP award along with Kirk making both All-Tournament teams.

With strong experience and size working to their advantage this could be the year that the Cougars make a serious run at an AISA state title.

The Escambia County Lady Blue Devils also played in the county tournament last weekend, but did not fair as well as their male counterparts.

The Lady Blue Devils opened the tournament with a win, but could not overcome the size of Flomaton or the talent of T.R. Miller.

Either way they played well and were competitive.

Lady Blue Devil Diamond Williams was the lone pick for the All-Tournament team, but Cha’Nae Lyles was a player who could have made it with her strong performances.

Congratulations to all of our teams and players.

Chandler Myers is sports editor of the Atmore Advance. He can be reached at 368-2123 or by e-mail at sports@atmoreadvance.com