Already having eclipsed their win total from the past two years combined, the W.S. Neal Eagle football team will return home this Friday to take on Southside-Selma.
W.S. Neal comes into the game this week with a 2-1 record overall and a 1-1 region record after taking down Cottage Hill Friday night 58-0. The win was the second shutout for W.S. Neal this fall and the first time the Eagles have won two games since the 2009 season.
Also, Friday’s win was 55 Years since W.S. Neal posted a larger margin of victory. On Oct. 17, 1957, the Eagles beat Baker (Fla.) 63-0. Also, the road region win was the first region victory on the road since a 20-6 win over Hillcrest-Evergreen on Oct. 12, 2007.
W.S. Neal head coach Doug Hoehn said Friday’s win over Cottage Hill was a good win.
“I thought we played well as a team and we needed too,” Hoehn said. “The week before against Straughn, they are a good football team, but our offense did not get off the bus until the very end of the second quarter. Our defense didn’t get off the bus until the very end of the third quarter. If you multiply that with all the penalties we had, it was just not a very good showing on our part. We challenged the kids in practice this past week to have a better performance against Cottage Hill, especially on defense. I am happy with our effort.”
Hoehn said on defense, the Eagles held Cottage Hill to minus-5 yards of offense and on offense, they had 480 yards of total offense with 450 rushing and 30 passing.
“We had very few penalties and no turnovers,” Hoehn said. “We had two interceptions on defense with some good punt returns and kickoff returns.”
As for Southside-Selma this week, the Panthers come into East Brewton with a 1-2 overall record and a 1-1 region record. Southside lost to Straughn 36-14 last week.
“They are a very explosive and dangerous team,” Hoehn said of Selma. “They have a lot of athleticism. They beat Cottage Hill 20-7 in the first game of the year and had several touchdowns called back and several turnovers. Against Straughn, they just dug themselves in a hole. Turnovers were clearly the difference in that game. We have our work cut out for us. They are a type of team that makes you nervous. They really make a coach nervous. I am not just saying that.”
Game time is set for 7 p.m. in East Brewton.