A road trip out of the state awaits the W.S. Neal Eagle football team Friday as they plan to head to Jacksonville, Fla. to start their 2014 season.
W.S. Neal head coach Doug Hoehn said practices for his team have been going really well in preparation for Friday’s opener against Bishop John J. Snyder Cardinal.
“The kids are working hard and we are staying healthy,” he said. “I think the kids are just at the point where they are ready to compete against someone else.”
As for Bishop Snyder, Hoehn said his defense will have their hands full due to the type of offense the Cardinal run.
“They run a lot of formations and sets on offense,” he said. “So that makes them tough to prepare for. It will tough for us to prepare for them on defense. They have a big offensive line and a big tailback. Their quarterback is new this year. I don’t know a lot about him.”
Defensively, Hoehn said Bishop Snyder has a big defensive line.
“I think match up wise, they are going to be bigger than us,” he said. “They are going to be bigger than us up on the offensive and defensive lines. We feel pretty good about our skill players in space. We are just going to have to take care of the ball and limit our penalties. We will need to be able to adjust to all their offensive formations.”
So how does Hoehn think his team will handle the big trip Friday?
“A couple of years ago we had a long trip up to Fayette County,” he said. “We still have a few kids on the team that made that trip. Mileage-wise, this trip is a bit further, but time-wise, it is not that much of a difference. I don’t think it is going to be that bad of a trip because it is Interstate-10 the whole way. I think the kids are ready to play. They are excited to make this trip. I know they are excited, so I expect them to handle this trip really well.”
Game time is set for 7 p.m. (Eastern time) in Jacksonville.

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