After picking up their third win of the 2012 season Friday against Southside-Selma–the most wins for the Eagles since a 6-5 record in 2007—the Eagles will welcome the Hillcrest Jaguars to East Brewton this Friday for a non-region game.
W.S. Neal head coach Doug Hoehn said there were some positive things he saw from his team’s 54-6 win over Selma Friday.
“I think our kids gave a strong effort and I think the younger kids that played for us improved their effort from the win over Cottage Hill the week before,” Hoehn said. “They played well against Cottage Hill and played even better against Southside. That is a big plus to see those players step in and get better over the last two weeks.”
Hoehn said in the first half offensively, his team started a little slow.
“We came in at halftime and made a few adjustments of some things they were doing that we had not seen on film,” he said. “The positive part about that is our kids responded really well to the adjustments. Anytime you can come in halftime and change some things and the kids pick up on it, it was another big plus. I thought having the kids improve and us making the adjustments at the half were big. Offensively Marquese Banks had 19 carries for 176 yards and three touchdowns. Josiah Nettles added two touchdowns. Bryson Peterson and Zack Williams did a very good job for us on the offensive line. Keith Bradley had a couple of big punts that pinned Southside deep. They were not long punts, but they did not need to be long punts. He had a 31.9 average with two of them being well-placed. We have been really pleased with his punts this year. Offensively we had 337 yards of offense.”
Defensively, Hoehn said his Eagles played well.
“We held them to 144 total yards. They had several very good athletes and I think we did a good job with them. Defensively, Jeffrey McMillan had a good game with 10 solo tackles and two assists. Michael Williams also had a blocked punt for us for a safety.”
W.S. Neal and Hillcrest have played 17 times with W.S. Neal winning eight and Hillcrest winning nine games. Last year, Hillcrest defeated the Eagles 19-6 in Evergreen.
Hillcrest comes into the game Friday night with an 0-4 record. The Jaguars lost 20-14 last week to Clarke County.
“They are a good 0-4 team… a very good 0-4 team,” Hoehn said of Hillcrest. “They lost in double overtime (to Clarke County) and if they had not turned the ball over against Andalusia in week one, they might would have won. They played them tough. Right now I think they are 2-2 or 3-1 without the turnovers. They are fast, physical and if they come in here and not turn the ball over, they are going to be tough to defeat. They are very athletic and have a lot of ability and speed on offense.”
Game time is set for 7 p.m. in East Brewton at W.S. Neal Stadium.