ATMORE - The Andalusia Bulldogs took to the road on Friday night, squaring off against region foe Escambia County in Atmore, and coming away with the win, 23-8.

Coming into the contest, the Bulldogs knew that a win over the Blue Devils would clinch a berth in the state playoffs against Beauregard in two weeks.

And Andalusia wasted no time in making sure their spot was secured by physically dominating every aspect of the game on Friday night.

They got things started midway through the first quarter when senior Ty Wallace capped a long drive by taking it in from a few yards out for a touchdown to get the Bulldogs on the board first. After a successful two-point conversion, Andalusia led 8-0 with 4:26 left in the first quarter.

But Escambia County immediately answered.

Junior quarterback Chris Johnson completed a long bomb down the home sideline, then two plays later, ran it in for the Blue Devils’ lone score of the night. A two-point pass play evened the score at eight apiece with 3:13 left in the first.

Later in the first half, ECHS had the momentum. They had just stopped Andalusia on a fourth down conversion attempt, and were beginning to move the ball on the Bulldogs.

That’s when junior safety Jud Rogers stepped in front of a pass for an interception and returned it all the way down to the Blue Devil six-yard line.

Two plays later, Wallace punched it in again, this time from 5 yards away. The two-point conversion was no good this time, and the Bulldogs took a 14-8 lead into the half.

To open the second half, Andalusia capitalized on another Blue Devil turnover to begin to pull away.

After a bad snap on a fourth down punt attempt, the Bulldogs took over at the opposing 35-yard line.

They then carried out a nine-play scoring drive, finished off by Chase Hopkins’ 27-yard field goal to extend their lead to 17-8 with 5:40 remaining in the third quarter.

On the last play of the third quarter, the Bulldog offense fumbled, giving ECHS an opportunity to pull within one.

But the Andalusia defense held tough, as they have all year, and forced the Blue Devils to turn the ball over on downs.

The next possession was all Michael McCalman. Andalusia’s junior quarterback ripped off a gain of 27 to move the offense into the red zone, then carried for 5 yards before finally scampering the final 12 yards into the endzone.

This brought the score to 23-8, Bulldogs, with 8:58 left in the game.

Andalusia then played solid defense and ran the ball to secure the victory and run out the clock.

Bulldogs’ head coach Brian Seymore was pleased with the way his team played in such a high-pressure game.

“Defensively we made some adjustments in the second half and offensively we did some real good things,” Seymore said. ”I’m proud of the way we played tonight. We played physical football.”

The Bulldogs travel to Fairhope next week before taking on Beauregard in the first round of the playoffs in two weeks.