After snapping a 20-game losing streak in a big way Friday night over Monroe County, the W.S. Neal Eagles have a new streak, a winning streak, they will put to test Thursday as they face the B.C. Rain Red Raiders.
W.S. Neal improved their record to 1-5 overall and to 1-3 in region play with a 55-14 win over Monroe County last week.
First-year head coach Doug Hoehn said he was proud for his team to get the win.
“We are obviously pleased that we won,” Hoehn said. “The kids played hard. I think if you look at the ballgame, there were three reasons why we were successful. First off, we did not have the penalties, we did not have the turnovers and we converted every time we were in the red zone.”
Hoehn said the win is big for the Eagle program that had struggled as of late.
“The school and the community have been waiting for this for some time now,” Hoehn said. “I think the fact that it was homecoming makes it a little more special. Hopefully the kids will realize that if you do not turn the ball over, and you do not make the penalties, and you convert in the red zone, that you can win football games. That is what we need to take from this.”
This week, the Eagles will look to build on their recent win against 1-5 overall and 1-3 in region play B.C. Rain. B.C. Rain comes into the game with W.S. Neal coming off a 47-14 loss at No. 2 Jackson.
“They are an athletic team,” Hoehn said of B.C. Rain. “They are bigger than we are and they have better team speed. It will be a challenge for us. They are strong upfront on both sides of the ball. They play four different kids at quarterback and they are all athletes. They all do things a little better than the others did. There are certain things each quarterback does and we are going to go over that this week with our kids. If our kids can identify who is in the game at quarterback, I think that will help us a little bit in what they are going to run.”
The game this week for W.S. Neal will be on a Thursday at Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile.
Hoehn said preparing on a short week is kind of like preparing for a homecoming game.
“With it being a short week and with us playing in a bigger stadium like Ladd, again is like homecoming,” Hoehn said. “I think if the coach had been here for a couple of years or if we had a senior-led team or an experienced team, I don’t see that being a problem. We are young and learning how to play football every week. So hopefully, it won’t be a problem. We are going to address all that this week the same way we addressed homecoming last week and hopefully it will leave an impression on the kids. The size of the stadium and the fact that we have to move our practice schedule up a day early, we are going to have to adapt to it.”
W.S. Neal is 1-5 overall against B.C. Rain. In the last three seasons against the Red Raiders, W.S. Neal is 0-3 and being outscored 104-33. The Eagles lost 40-20 last year at home and was outscored 42-7 in the 2009—which was also played at Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile.
In 2008, W.S. Neal lost 22-6. The lone win was back in 1971 when the Eagles won 26-6.
Game time is set for 7 p.m. Thursday in Mobile at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.