EAST BREWTON — Andalusia’s Deion Akins had eight carries for 84 yards and was 7-for-8 in passing for 126 yards in his first start, to help lead his team to a 44-13 victory over W.S. Neal.

“I’m pretty happy with the team,” Andalusia coach Brian Seymore said. “It’s all about stepping up and going out there to make plays. We’ve still got some minor things to work on.

“It irritates you a little bit, but we’re getting better every time we go out there,” he said. “We had a couple of breakdowns on defense and didn’t make plays. We have to eliminate that because the bulk of our schedule is right ahead of us.”

On the first drive of the game, Akins showed why he’s been waiting for this opportunity by carrying the ball 63 yards for a touchdown.

“He’s a gamer,” Seymore said. “He steps up and runs into the game. I told everybody we’d be fine with him all week. I saw him in practice and he’s got the ability to lead. These kids rallied around him and we didn’t ask him to do too much.

“We got the ball to the people that can make plays and fortunately, he made some big runs and key throws for us,” he said.

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 points later in the second quarter when Marcus Ingram carried the ball in from 3 yards out. The extra point was no good.

Andalusia took over on downs on Neal’s next possession to go into halftime with an 18-point lead.

At the start of the third quarter, Jones ran the ball in from 1 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 (1-2, 0-2) was Jeremy Nicholson who had 10 carries for 119 yards.

W.S. Neal coach Kevin Jordan said despite the loss, his team showed effort Friday night.

“They kicked our butts,” he said. “I’m really disappointed in the way we played. But we’ve got a good group of kids and they’ll come back.”

For Andalusia, T.K. Bullard and O’Brien Curry led in receiving. Bullard had two receptions for 31 yards and Curry had two receptions for 53 yards.

Andalusia will continue its region play next week when the Bulldogs host Jackson. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.