After a 20-14 loss Thursday night in a preseason game in Opp, the W.S. Neal Eagles will take to the field this Friday for their first real game of the 2011 season, as they will welcome the Flomaton Hurricanes to East Brewton.
First-year W.S. Neal Eagle coach Doug Hoehn said after watching film from the preseason game at Opp, he saw a strong effort from his Eagle team.
“I saw a strong effort from the kids and saw that they played hard every snap,” Hoehn said. “Even when they made mistakes, they still played hard. We were very pleased with that.”
As for Flomaton this week, the Hurricanes, the last few years have been very young football teams. For the 2011 football season, those years are starting to come to fruition as the Hurricanes have gone from years with one and three seniors to 10 this year.
While losing only three seniors the past two years, Vickery said the team this year has a lot of returning players.
“Their quarterback is a very talented athlete,” Hoehn said of the Hurricanes. “We have to figure out some way to contain him and that is going to be hard to do all the time. We just need to do it most of the time to have a chance to win. He is the difference maker.”
Hoehn said the Hurricanes also bring a big fullback to the table.
“He is a very physical back and blocks extremely well for the tailback,” Hoehn said. “He also plays inside linebacker and is a strong force on defense for them. I think those will be their two players who are involved in running the ball and throwing the ball the most for them. That is what jumps right out at you.”
Upfront, Hoehn said the Hurricanes are a really big team.
“They have some really good-looking kids,” Hoehn said.
The Eagles of East Brewton are coming off some down years on the football field. After going 10-2 in 2006, the Eagles are 10-31 in their last four seasons going 0-10 in 2010 and 2-8 in 2008 and 2009 and a 6-5 record in 2007.
Their last region win was in 2007— an overtime victory over T.R. Miller in the Battle of Murder Creek, 14-8.
W.S. Neal has lost 15 straight games with their last win coming in week five of the 2009 season against Calhoun. The Eagles have also gone winless in region play the last three years losing 21 straight region games. Last year, the Eagles opened up the 2010 season with a 35-0 loss at Flomaton.
Hoehn said there is several keys to a W.S. Neal win Friday night.
“We are going to have to limit our mistakes,” Hoehn said. “We are going to have to limit our turnovers and we are going to have to play hard every snap. To give ourselves a chance to win, we are going to have to do those few things. I think Flomaton is a larger team than us and they have one or two athletes that are extremely athletic—their quarterback, like I said, and another young man, No. 10 who plays wide receiver for them. Those two are very talented athletes. They have, after watching the film from last year, the same kids playing for them this year. They are an experienced team coming back.”
With all that said, Hoehn said his team is working very hard.
“But with that said, they are still trying to learn our offense and defense,” Hoehn said. “And that does not happen overnight. So we just have to make sure we do not get frustrated or down on ourselves. We have to realize it is a four-quarter game and clear our heads after a mistake. We have to have a short memory and play hard every play.”
Game time is set for 7 p.m. at W.S. Neal Stadium in East Brewton.