The W.S. Neal Eagle football team will look to get back in the win column this Friday night at home after suffering their first loss of the season this past Friday night at home to the Straughn Tigers in a region game. The Eagles lost 21-8 to the Tigers to fall to 1-1 this season and 0-1 in region play.
“The kids played pretty well,” W.S. Neal head coach Doug Hoehn said. “We made a good effort and the Straughn kids made a good effort. It was a hard-fought game on both sides. It basically came down to us having three turnovers. They ending up scoring two touchdowns off three of our turnovers. That ended up being the difference in the game. I think their depth favored them also. They had no one go both ways and we had about six that had to go both ways. It is still early in the year, but that helped them out a bit. But our kids kept playing hard. I just think the turnovers were the difference in the game.”
This week, W.S. Neal welcomes Cottage Hill to town for their second straight home and region game.
W.S. Neal is 1-0 all-time against Cottage Hill. W.S. Neal defeated the Warriors 58-0 last year in Mobile.
Cottage Hill is 0-2 this year after falling to Jay in week one and to Selma last week by a score of 20-6.
“They are much-improved over last year,” Hoehn said of the Warriors. “They have had two close games and they lost both right at the end of the game. They are playing with a lot more confidence than they did last year. They are better at what they don offensively and defensively.”
Hoehn said the running back and quarterback for the Warriors are good athletes.
“The quarterback runs the ball and throws it pretty decent,” Hoehn said. “Their tailback is a good football player.”
In their region loss last week to Southside-Selma, with the game tied in the fourth quarter, Selma scored two touchdowns late to get the win by 14 points.
Southside had a 14-6 lead with 8:02 remaining then captured the victory with a 50-yard touchdown run with 2:02 remaining.
Cody Lods (running back, No. 21) led Cottage Hill with 87 yards on 12 carries, and Clay Cockrell (wide receiver, No. 23) had three receptions for 22 yards for the Warriors.
Game time for W.S. Neal and Cottage Hill is set for 7 p.m. Friday night at W.S. Neal Stadium in East Brewton.