By By Andrew Garner
Special to the Standard
W.S. Neal got on the scoreboard first Friday night but couldn't maintain the momentum as they lost 44-13 to Andalusia. W.S. Neal coach Kevin Jordan said despite the loss, his team showed effort Friday night.
Andalusia’s Deion Akins had eight carries for 84 yards and was 7-for-8 in passing for 126 yards in his first season start to help lead his team to a 44-13 victory over W.S. Neal.
On the first drive of Andalusia’s possession in the game, Akins showed why he’s been waiting for this opportunity by carrying the ball 63-yards for a touchdown.
Before the Bulldogs’ opening drive, W.S. Neal managed to draw blood first when Jeremy Nicholson ran the ball from 43 yards out for a touchdown.
Later in the first quarter, Andalusia added six points when T.K. Bullard carried the ball in from six yards out.
After the touchdown run, Andalusia’s Ralph Sims recovered the ball at the edge of the sideline with 1:29 left in the first.
On a fourth down play, Akins connected with senior wide receiver O’Brien Curry for a 28-yard touchdown pass with 11:36 left in the first half. The extra point was no good.
The Bulldogs (3-0, 2-0 in Class 4A, Region 1) added six more later in the second quarter when Marcus Ingram carried the ball three yards out. The extra point was no good.
Andalusia took over on downs on Neals’ next possession to go into half time with an 18-point lead.
At the start of the third quarter, Jones ran the ball in from one-yard out with 9:00 left to give his team a 25-point lead.
With 5:04 left in the third, W.S. Neal scored its last touchdown of the game when Nicholson took the ball from his team’s own 32-yard line.
Andalusia added six more when Derrick King ran the ball 45 yards on a kick off return with 1:22 on the clock.
Early in the fourth quarter, Sims helped add six more points for his team with a 21-yard touchdown run.
Late in the second half, C.P. Rodgers also got some playing time carrying the ball seven times for 47 yards.
The leading rusher for W.S. Neal (0-3, 0-2) was Jeremy Nicholson who had 10 carries for 119 yards.
For Andalusia, T.K. Bullard and O’Brien Curry led in receiving.
Bullard had two recections for 31 yards and Curry had two receptions for 53 yards.
The leading rusher for Andalusia was Derrick King with eight carries for 50 yards.
Andalusia will continue its region play next week as they host Jackson. Kick off is at 7 p.m.