Escambia Academy’s Tim Finklea ran the opening kickoff of Friday night’s contest with Fort Dale Academy back 92 yards for a touchdown.

It proved to a sign of things to come, as Escambia would go on to claim a 54-12 victory.

The Cougars would get their second big special teams play of the night just four plays later.

After forcing the Eagles to punt, Escambia recorded a safety when the snap sailed high on the punt attempt.

Just like that the Cougars led 9-0 just less than three minutes into the game.

“Special teams has been a strength for us all season long,” EA coach Hugh Fountain said. “The past two years against Fort Dale have been nail-biting finishes, and we talked about wanting to have a strong start this year so we wouldn’t have another nail-biting ending.”

By the close of the first quarter Escambia led 29-6. By halftime the Cougars had pushed that lead to 35-6.

Fort Dale junior quarterback Austin Vickery led the Eagles’ ground attack. He finished with 50 yards on 10 carries.

Senior Sawyer Kendrick scored both of Fort Dale’s touchdowns. He scored on a 1-yard run and also returned a fumble 25 yards for a score.

Senior Ryan Burkett has two catches for 62 yards.

The Eagles finished with 129 yards rushing and 82 yards passing.

Junior Cody Parker led the defense with 15 tackles.

With the loss, Fort Dale drops to 1-2 on the season and 0-2 in Class AAA, Region 1 play.

The Eagles will be back in action next Friday when they take on Class AA Wilcox Academy.

The Eagles defeated the Wildcats 56-6 in 2013.
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. in Camden.