By By Adam Robinson
Sports Editor
In a preseason football game Thursday in Atmore, the EscambiaCounty Blue Devils scored 26 second half points to beat W.S. Neal 32-7.
Escambia County led 6-0 at halftime of the three quarter game, but turned up the heat in the second half over the young Eagles of W.S. Neal.
The JV Eagles for W.S. Neal claimed a 7-0 win over the Escambia County JV team in a one quarter game to start things off.
Jordan said that he knew his young team was going to make some mistakes.
W.S. Neal was held to 96 total yards in the game, with 95 coming on the ground.
Freshman Dylan Godwin got the start at quarterback for the Eagles and was 1-for-5 with one interception and one completion to Quinton Burnett for one yard.
Escambia County held a 6-0 lead at halftime of the game and the Eagle defense held the Blue Devils to only 63 yards rushing on the ground and 41 yards in the Atmore.
The Eagle offense had only 19 yards of total offense at the half.
But in the second half, Escambia County got three offensive touchdowns and an interception return of 40 yards to take a 32-0 lead with 8:38 left in the game.
Escambia County rushed for 259 yards on the ground and had 78 yards passing for a total of 337 while W.S. Neal was held under 100 yards of total offense.
Jeremy Nicholson led the Eagles with 78 yards rushing on 14 attempts and scored the lone touchdown of the night for W.S. Neal with just over five minutes left to play.
Nicholson scored on a 19-yard run after having runs of 21 and 8 on the drive.
While the game was only a preseason game for the Eagles and first year head coach Jordan, Jordan said he wished the game would have been a little different for his first game as a head coach.
W.S. Neal will take on Monroe County in Monroeville next Thursday at 7 p.m. for their first game of the 2009 season.
JV: W.S. Neal 7, ECHS 0
In a one quarter JV game to open play Thursday in Atmore, the W.S. Neal Eagles held Escambia County to four total yards of offense while getting one touchdown from Garrett Jenkins to win 7-0.
Jenkins scored on a 6-yard with 5:08 left in the first and only quarter of play to get the win for the Eagles.
The Eagles had only seven yards of offense in the game, but earned the win.
W.S. Neal got the ball to open the game and after getting a 2-yard run from Reid Johnson to open the game and a 6-yard run from Damion Williams, fell to a bad snap on third down for an 18-yard loss and had to punt.
The Eagle defense forced a Blue Devil fumble on the Atmore’ second play, but failed to move the ball on offense and settled for another punt.
On Atmore’s second possession, the Eagles forced another fumble and then use five plays and benefited from a Blue Devil penalty to drive the ball and set up Jenkin’s score.
Logan Williamson added the extra point for the Eagles as W.S. Neal led 7-0 with 5:08 left in the game.
After the touchdown, Escambia County used five plays to get to the W.S. Neal 40-yard line, but on a fourth down and 21-yards to go, W.S. Neal held the Blue Devils and took over with 2:39 left to play.
From there, the Eagles ran out the clock for the win.
Jenkins led the Eagles in rushing with nine yards on two carries and the one touchdown.
Stats: W.S. Neal JV 7, ECHS 0
At Escambia County
W.S. Neal        7     -7
ECHS        0    -0
WSN-Jenkins 6-yard run (Williamson kick)
First Downs: WSN-2, EC-1
Total yards: W.S. Neal 7 (7 rushing, 0 passing), ECHS 4 (4 rushing, 0 passing)
Individual rushing:: WSN- Johnson 1-2, Williamson 4-5, Blackman 4-(-15), Brown 3-6, Jenkins 2-9 1 TD
EC-Williamson 6-(-10), Taylor 1-0, Brown 1-4, Hartley 1-10, team 1-0
Individual Passing: WSN-none, EC- Williamson 0-2
Individual receiving: WSN-none, EC-none
Individual punting: WSN-none. EC-none
Penalties: W.S. Neal 1-5, EC 1-5
Stats: ECHS 32, W.S. Neal Varsity 7
At Escambia County
W.S. Neal        0    0    7    -7
ECHS        6    12    14    -32
ECHS- Stephens 29-yard pass reception from Stallworth (PAT failed)
ECHS-Stallworth 9-yd. run (PAT failed)
ECHS-Chambers 40-yd. interception return (PAT failed)
ECHS- Mitchell 1-yd. run (Boatwright kick)
ECHS- Madison 26-yard pass reception form Stallworth (Boatwright kick)
WSN-Nicholson 19-yard run (Williamson kick)
First Downs: WSN-6, EC 10
Total yards: W.S. Neal 96 (95 rushing, 1 passing), ECHS 337 (259 rushing, 78 passing)
Individual rushing:: WSN- Godwin 5-(-4), Nicholson 14-78 1 TD, Burnett 2-9, Banks 1-(-1), Elliott 2-5, Alexander 1-3, Williamson 2-7, Jenkins 1-(-3)
ECHS- Wilkson 5-33, Stallworth 9-122 1 TD, Flowers 1-(-3), Williamson 3-24, Mitchell 4-58 1 TD, Salter 1-33, Taylor 2-(-8)
Individual Passing: WSN- Godwin 1-4-1, 1 yd., ECHS-Stallworth 5-12-0, 76 yards, 2 TD, Williams 1-1, 2 yards
Individual receiving: WSN- Burnett 1-1, ECHS-Mitchell 1-8, Stephens 1-28 TD, Williamson 1-5, Wilkson 1-11, Madison 1-26 TD
Individual punting: WSN-Alexander 5-162, 32.4 avg., Stallworth 2-70, 35.0 avg.
Penalties: W.S. Neal 2-10, ECHS 2-25