By By Adam Robinson and Lisa Tindell
The W.S. Neal High School Eagles continued their dominance over the Calhoun Tigers Friday night in East Brewton as they defeated the Tigers 57-6 for a big homecoming win.
The Eagles (2-3) improved their record to 7-0 over Calhoun and continued to outscore the Tigers by huge margins in their series. The Eagles scored 26 first quarter points and 23 second quarter points to cruise to a 49-6 halftime lead.
W.S. Neal Eagle football coach Blaine Hathcock said he was proud of his team's big homecoming win and the big numbers their put on the scoreboard.
The Eagles were two points shy of matching their points total for the whole season (59), and in just this one game picked up 431 yards of offense with 268 coming on the ground. They picked up 20 first downs in the game held Calhoun to just five first downs and 50 yards of total offense on the night. Calhoun was held to -25 yard rushing and 75 in the air.
Nate Sheffield had two rushing touchdowns for the Eagles and 142 yards rushing on the night to lead the Eagles.
Taylor Cash was 6-for-9 on the night passing with two touchdowns as Jeremy Nicholson led with 59 yards on two catches and had one touchdown in the win.
W.S. Neal got on the board early in the game when Nate Sheffield scored from nine yards out to put the Eagles up 6-0 after the failed PAT just 4:35 into the game at the 10:25 mark.
After the Sheffield touchdown for the Eagles, the W.S. Neal defense went to work and forced a Calhoun turnover on downs,
On the Eagles' second possession of the game, W.S. Neal used one play and got a 5-yard rushing touchdown from quarterback Taylor Cash to go up 13-0 after William Shell's PAT with 9:15 left in the first quarter.
After another Eagle stop on defense and a Calhoun Tiger punt, the Eagles needed just 1:24 to go 58 yards on five plays and take a 20-0 lead with 6:18 left in the quarter after an 8-yard rushing touchdown from Maurice Samuels.
Following an interception for the Eagles on Calhoun's fourth offensive possession of the night, the Eagles went 46 yards on four plays to lay claim to a 26-0 lead and their final touchdown of the quarter on a T.J. Taylor 16-yard pass reception from Cash at the 3:35 mark.
In the second quarter, the Eagles continued their scoring frenzy and tough defense as they got a 3-yard rushing touchdown from Jason Bailey to go ahead 34-0 at the 6:27 mark in the second quarter.
Calhoun cut the lead to 34-6, but the Eagles added two more touchdowns in the quarter, one on a 35-yard run from Sheffield to go ahead 42-6 with 3:31 left in the second quarter and a 44-yard pass reception by Jeremy Nicholson with 42 second left before the half to enjoy a comfortable 49-6 halftime lead.
In the second half, with the quarter reduced to six minutes, the Eagles added one final touchdown on the night, a 2-yard run from Taylor to go ahead 57-6 after the Dodson Herrington two-point conversion to claim the 51-point win 57-6.
W.S. Neal will be back in region play next week when they travel to Evergreen to take on the Hillcrest Jaguars.
Hillcrest dropped to 1-4 on the season this past Friday night with a 34-14 loss to 5A Spanish Fort.
Game time is set for 7 p.m. in Evergreen.