After winning their first playoff game since 2006 Friday night at home against Slocomb, the No. 9 W.S. Neal Eagles head to the second round of the playoffs this week.
The Eagles, now 9-2 overall after Friday 66-24 win over the Red Tops, will hit the road for a long road trip and head to 9-2 Fayette County.
W.S. Neal head coach Doug Hoehn said his kids are continuing to improve and looks for that pattern to continue this week in round two.
“During the Slocomb game and over the last three weeks, I think we have been playing good football,” Hoehn said. “We are improving each week. Offensively we ran the ball for 555 yards on 50 rushes and had eight touchdowns. I think the offensive line is continuing to improve each and every week. On defense, I think we played well. We gave them a short field on a turnover for one of their scores and had a couple of penalties that kept their drive alive for another one of their scores. Take those two items off our defense, I thought they played well. Overall, our kids are improving each week and we are playing more physical this week. To win a playoff game, was a big win for us here and a big win for the program.”
Fayette County defeated B.B. Comer Friday night 35-16 to advance to round two and host the Eagles.
W.S. Neal and Fayette County have never met each other on the football field.
“They are going to be the most athletic team we have faced this year,” Hoehn said. “They have two good wide receivers in No. 4 (Jatrae Madison) and No. 3 (Jatevin Madison). They have a very good tailback in No. 8 (Jerkyle Nalls). He has a lot of speed. Their quarterback, No. 6 (Marcellus Redmond) can hurt you throwing the ball or running the ball. They are going to be a little bit better than us on the offensive and defensive lines. So it is going to be a big challenge for us. We are going to face some kids that are bigger than us.”
On defense, Hoehn said the key is to limit big plays.
“They are going to get some plays,” he said. “They are just too athletic not too. We have to try and limit them. They have done a good job on big plays this year with long runs and long throws for touchdowns. On offense we can’t afford to get behind the chains with penalties. We cannot afford to make turnovers. We have to go in a positive direction.”
Another thing the Eagles need to handle is the long trip to Fayette County.
“It is going to be a little bit further of a trip than usual,” Hoehn said. “It is going to be a long bus ride, but we have talked to the kids about it. The kids are just going to be on the bus for an hour-and-a-half longer than usual. Besides that we will stick to our same schedule when we arrive and what time we eat and everything else. We are going to keep it same as it always as except we are just going to be on the bus a little longer than normal.”
W.S. Neal last made it to round two of the state playoffs in 2006 where they lost to Trinity at home 21-14.
The Eagles of East Brewton last won a round two playoff game in 2003 when they defeated Montgomery Academy 14-7 in East Brewton.
According to the Website AHSFHS.org, W.S. Neal is 1-0 on the road in the second round while Fayette County is 5-3 at home in round two.