W.S. Neal’s Quenton Samuel racked up 407 rushing yards on 23 carries and scored five touchdowns for the Eagles of East Brewton as they cruised to a 46-8 region and homecoming win over the Excel Panthers.
“We played hard and I think both teams played hard,” W.S. Neal head coach Doug Hoehn said. “We always play hard. Tonight we didn’t have any turnovers. We have a chance to be a pretty good team if we do not turn the ball over. The kids are always going to play hard. They like to play physical football. They like to play hard. We had a few penalties late in the game, but we had one or two in the first half I think. I am proud of the kids and happy for the community. Homecoming is always a big thing around here. The folks here love Neal High School and Neal football. Our band and cheerleaders did a good job all night long of getting the team up. The teachers and the administration were also part of it. Our kids fed off that and that is what we need. We need our band and our cheerleaders to stay in there with us and they love it and it keeps the kids going. It was just a great team effort.”
Samuel had over 100 yards rushing after four carries as he scored on runs of 74, 17, 60, 52 and 69 to pace the Eagles on offense. W.S. Neal tallied 494 yards of total offense in the win with all coming on the ground.
“I would like to thank my offensive line for block for me,” Samuel said. “Coach Hoehn did a great job of practicing us this week and I hope he prepares us even better for Bayside this week. The defense was kind of shaky a little bit and I just went to the open holes and used my speed and did what I needed to do.”
Zack Haveard had the other score for W.S. Neal as he scored on an 8-yard run in the second quarter to put W.S. Neal up 16-0 on the Panthers.
W.S. Neal led 8-0 after the first quarter and 16-0 at the half. In the third quarter, W.S. Neal jumped out to a 24-0 lead before Excel scored their lone points of the game with 6:00 left in the third quarter. W.S. Neal would outscore Excel 24-8 in the quarter to take a 40-8 lead into the fourth. In the fourth, Samuels added his final touchdown of the night on a 69-yard run to help give W.S. Neal the 38-point win.
“Quenton is getting better and the offensive line played better tonight,” Hoehn said. “We had a tough week of practice. We had a lot of things to fix after that Hillcrest game. The kids had one or two ways to go. They could feel sorry for themselves or fight through it at practice this week because it was tough. We will take it one game at a time.”
Excel finished with 114 yards of total offense in the loss with 72 coming on the ground and 42 in the air.
“The defense played well tonight,” Hoehn said. “We gave up one score tonight, but twice on that drive they were stopped but penalties helped them convert it. I think we had two offensive penalties all night long with three or four coming on defense. I would rather not have any of those, but the defense played well tonight.”
W.S. Neal improved to 4-2 overall with the win and to 3-1 in region play.
The Eagles of East Brewton will travel to face the Bayside Academy Admirals Friday night in a key class 3A region 1 showdown. Game time is set for 7 p.m. in Daphne.
“They are a good football team…a very good football team,” Hoehn said of Bayside. “Coach Phil Lazenby does a great job with that football team. They have a great quarterback. It is going to be a huge challenge for us. Hopefully we can handle the drive down there, play good and smart football and not turn the ball over and see what happens.”