CONTROL WHAT THEY CAN: Bulldogs must win out for chance at playoffs
Published 12:05 am Friday, October 19, 2018
The Andalusia Bulldogs (4-4, 2-3) find themselves in a must win situation this week as they prepare to travel to Brewton to take on W.S. Neal (1-5, 1-4) on Friday.
Andalusia’s postseason hopes are still alive, but the Bulldogs will need to win out and have another team help them for a chance at making the playoffs.
Andalusia could have won out and secured a playoff spot, but with Clarke County beating Hillcrest-Evergreen the Bulldogs will need some help to get in.
“We have to win out to have a chance at the playoffs,” Andalusia head coach Trent Taylor said. “Winning out doesn’t guarantee us the playoffs. One thing for sure, if we don’t win out we won’t make the playoffs.”
Taylor said that W.S. Neal is a going to be tough team to stop.
“W.S. Neal runs the Wing-T as good as anybody,” Taylor said. “Their coach has been doing it for a long time at every school he has been at. He is a very good at it. They are a team that hasn’t had any trouble moving the football on any team they’ve played. They move the football and put points on the board. I think it’s a game that pits our strength against their strength. Their strength is on the offensive side of the ball and our strength is on the defensive side of the ball.”
The Bulldogs are still trying to figure out who they are as a team on offense.
“One point of emphasis as always is trying to find or niche offensively and trying to eliminate some of the mental mistakes that we seem to continue to make,” Taylor said. “It’s not the same guy. It’s not the same group of guys. It almost has a snowball effect as far as where we are at offensively. At the same time, I see things and sparks of us getting there. You hate to put it like this, but we are just about to the point where we are running out of time.”
Taylor said the offense has to make something happen this week when given the opportunity.
“Tomorrow night (Friday) is one of those situations where we can’t sit back and wait for our defense to make plays, get a turnover or something like that,” Taylor said. “I almost felt like that’s the way it was last Friday night and even though those guys played outstanding, those opportunities didn’t come. We didn’t have that big sack on third down, turnover or whatever the case may be. When the field position is in our favor, which it was for most of the night, we have to take advantage of that from an offensive standpoint.”
Kickoff between Andalusia and W.S. Neal is set for 7 tonight in Brewton.
Admission to the game is $6 and there is a $5 charge for parking.