CVA falls to defending champion Escambia in first round

Published 11:37 pm Friday, November 2, 2018

By CHRIS MEGGINSON | For the Reporter

ATMORE – Coosa Valley Academy’s season came to a close Nov. 2 with a 45-14 loss at fifth-ranked Escambia Academy in the first round of the AISA Class 2A Playoffs. The Rebels finish the year with a 4-8 record after earning their first playoff bid since 2013.

“I was really proud how the seniors bought in this year. We’ve been together five months. I told them after the game, ‘You’re going to be the ones who can say, “We got CVA back where it should be and got this thing rolling,”’” said Jamie Scruggs, who is in his first season as CVA head coach. “They kind of owned that this year. This group of kids had never been to the playoff, so for them to be able to do that this year says a lot about them and how hard they worked.”

Escambia (9-2) took a 9-0 lead in the first quarter and extended it to 23-0 before CVA got on the board.

With 40 seconds remaining in the first half Reid Maddox caught a pass from Bryson Edwards inside the 30 and raced Escambia defenders to the end zone for a 52-yard Rebels touchdown, 23-6. Escambia returned the kickoff for a touchdown though to extend its lead, 30-6, at halftime.

“They’re the defending state champs for a reason. We hung with them for a while. We were able to move the ball on them a little bit, but they had a really good running game,” Scruggs said.

Escambia added a touchdown in both the third and fourth quarters.

With a running clock, Edwards tacked on a 2-yard touchdown run with 3:15 to play in the game and completed a 2-point pass to Maddox to round out the scoring, 45-14.

Edwards finished the night with 10 completions for 201 yards, while Maddox had three catches for 64 yards. Jackson Bryant had 65 yards receiving on two catches.

Escambia Academy advances to the AISA Semifinals to host Edgewood Academy on Nov. 10.