WOODVILLE – The Woodville Eagles got to fly off into the night as victors, after an arduous battle with The Newton Eagles, on Friday, Jan. 23.
After the winter blast started to show its face in our local area, schedules and times were shifted, yet the convocations of Eagles seemed unphased throughout the night.
The first period was a battle of the defenses. Adailius Williams, junior, and James Kelley, senior led the teamwork and scored the first few points for the Woodville Eagles, within the first ten minutes. Newton leading the first period in fouls and turnovers allowed Woodville the 14-12 lead at the end of the period. Woodville continued to show its prowess as their defensive skills forced many turnovers from their opponents. With over four clean steals, and great score capitalization on the excessive amount of fouls bestowed upon the Woodville Eagles, they maintained good defense and amped up the fans with their performance leading into a thrilling final minute. With five seconds left, Woodville’s ball to start launched a bullet of a pass to Adailius at half court resulting in a drive and a hook shot at the buzzer! This ended the half, 33-30 in the home team’s favor. In the third period, the Newton Eagles tried their best to slow the game down and spread Woodville out. However, a combination of good coaching and skill of the Woodville Eagles, were able to track Newton with finesse causing over twice as many turnovers and personal fouls then they caused. Although Newton topped the period in rebounds, Woodville’s fluid defenses were quite the tall order, ending the period up by one point 47-46. The final period kicked off strangely-within the first minute, Newton double-dribbled, and a Newton coach called a timeout. It was not for naught, however, as the Visitors began fighting back with great vigor against their agile opponents.
Many a foul yielded Woodville several free throws. One of which caused Woodville to come from behind and tie the game. The second of which was the game-winning, tie-breaking free throw by Harrison Dillard, junior. He had the fans at the edge of their seats as his first shot missed. However, with the sinking of the second shot, the crowd went wild!
Right as Newton tried to capitalize, the ball was stolen by Kenneth Rigsby, senior, and thrown into the air to run down the rest of the clock. The Woodville Eagles flew to roost with a 58-57 win over their adversaries.
