The W.S. Neal Eagles will welcome county rival Escambia County High School of Atmore to East Brewton Friday night for their 2014 opener.
W.S. Neal traveled to Jacksonville, Fla. Friday night and came back with a 33-14 win over Bishop Snyder High School.
“I think the kids did well for the first game,” W.S. Neal head coach Doug Hoehn said. “We had four penalties and no turnovers. We had a few broken assignments but that is to be expected the first game. They played hard. We were pretty pleased with it being the first game. I think they handled the trip really well.”
Escambia County of Atmore enters their game with W.S. Neal with a 0-1 record after falling to Baldwin County Friday night 42-6.
“They are very athletic,” Hoehn said of the Blue Devils. “They are much bigger than we are. Size-wise, they are bigger than us at every position on the field. They have more speed than we have, probably at every position on the field. We have only seen them in one game and first games are kind of tough to judge. I would expect them to not make as many mistakes as they did last year. So I think it is going to be a tough game. Their quarterback has a very strong arm and they have a very good tailback. They are very big up front on the offensive and defensive lines.”
W.S. Neal and Atmore last met in 2011 with the Eagles of East Brewton falling 28-15. Atmore has defeated W.S. Neal in three straight games ad owns a 31-16 record in the series.
The Blue Devils have outscored W.S. Neal 1,053 to 598 in the series.
Game time is set for 7 p.m. in East Brewton.
With construction going on at W.S. Neal, Hoehn told fans to get to the stadium early for parking reasons.
“It is going to be a little bit more crowded than usual. Of course we lost the south parking lot by the field house. I encourage fans to come here early and most of the parking will be on the north side of the school.
Game time is set for 7 p.m. in East Brewton.