Eagles take late loss
Published 12:20 am Saturday, October 22, 2011
By Heather Stone
sports writer
The W.S. Neal Eagles fell in an exciting, hard-fought game against the Saraland Spartans Friday night at home in a contest that ended 42-28 for the Spartans.
Head Coach Doug Hoehn was positive about the Eagles’ performance in the game.
“The kids played extremely hard tonight. I think they probably played their best game all season. They made some big plays on offense and defense,” said Hoehn. “They played very hard.”
Saraland won the toss and chose to receive the ball to begin the game, scoring a touchdown on their first possession. Nine plays ended with a 48-yard pass to Saraland’s Christian Snow. The PAT was good to start the game off with Saraland over W.S. Neal 7-0 at 7:54 in the first quarter.
The Eagles took over on their own 27-yard line. Three plays later, quarterback Christian Purvis hit Ashton Elliot with a 52-yard pass for the touchdown. The field goal attempt was no good, so with 5:59 left in the first quarter, Neal closed the gap to only 7-6 for Saraland.
Saraland took over on Neal’s 46-yard line, and Neal’s Kyle Smith promptly sacked the Spartan quarterback for a loss of one yard. Two plays later, Smith was assisted by Damion Williams for another sack. Both teams were forced to punt once more to end the first quarter with Saraland leading 7-6.
Saraland began the second quarter with possession of the ball on their own 18-yard line. The Eagles were able to push them back 5 yards. On the next play, Ashton Elliot intercepted a pass from Saraland’s Ward, and Neal took over on Saraland’s 40-yard line. They were unable to score, however, and were forced to punt, with Keith Bradley putting the ball in the end zone for a touchback. Saraland took over on their own 20-yard line and were able to turn an 8-play drive into a touchdown. The field goal was good, making the score 14-6 for Saraland with 6:25 left in the half.
After a seven-play drive, and a holding call against the Eagles, Neal was facing a first down and 20 when Christian Purvis made a 29-yard run into the end zone to score for the Eagles on the quarterback keeper. Purvis then handed off to Marquese Banks, who made it across the goal line for the two-point conversion with 3:45 in the half tying the score at 14-14.
Saraland answered three plays later with a 3-yard carry by Emil Harris and a good field goal to pull ahead of Neal 21-14, with 2:35 left in the second quarter. This score remained as the buzzer sounded to end the first half of the ballgame.
Neal came out strong in the third quarter with an 80-yard touchdown run by Banks. The point after attempt was blocked, but saw the Eagles gaining on the Spartans with a score of 21-20 for Saraland with only 26 seconds having ticked off the clock in the second half.
The Eagle defense held the Spartans on their next possession, not letting them past the 50-yard line and forcing them to punt the ball. Neal took over on their own 10-yard line. Banks carried the ball four yards for a second-down and six. Then Purvis found Ashton Elliot with a pass, and Elliot was able to run the ball into the end zone for an 86-yard touchdown. Banks then ran the ball across the goal line to gain the two-point conversion, and the Eagles moved ahead of the Spartans 28-21 with 8:31 on the clock in the third quarter.
Saraland answered with one more touchdown to end the third quarter with a 28-28 tie.
Penalties at crucial points kept the Eagles from scoring again and allowed one of two touchdowns made by the Spartans in the fourth quarter to end the game 42-28 for Saraland.
Of the penalties, Hoehn said, “We had a couple of little mistakes that kept us from probably putting some more points on the board, and a couple of penalties that kept their drives alive, that probably put some points on the board that otherwise I don’t think they probably would have gotten in there. That’s a good football team, and that’s a big, physical football team that was a big challenge for us tonight. I’m proud of the kids tonight. I really am. I mean, that game was going back and forth, and you know, [there were] a couple of penalties there that kind of changed the momentum of that game.”
Although, never happy with a loss, Hoehn was pleased with his team’s performance against Saraland.
“I’m just proud of our kids,” Hoehn said. “They’re playing hard, and we’re getting better every week.”
Next week, Neal will play across-the-creek rivals, T.R. Miller at home. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.