Albany, Westover look to correct mistakes

ALBANY – Friday night’s game at Hugh Mills Stadium will be a matchup of two teams looking to correct the mistakes that plagued them in their previous outing.

That is, at least, if the game is able to be played.

Due to Hurricane Hermine, the Dougherty County Athletic Department said a decision on whether to play or cancel the game will be made Friday at noon.

After showing promise in the season opener against Pelham, Albany took a step back last week. The Indians lost to Mitchell County 24-0 and struggled to get anything going on offense.

Westover opened the season last Saturday against Monroe and was also shut out, falling 12-0. The Patriots were plagued by penalties and had a touchdown negated by a holding call.

“We have spent a lot of time in practice holding our guys accountable for the penalties,” Westover coach Octavia Jones said. “We felt like that was a vital part in us not being successful in the game last week. We have been just trying to clean that up.”

In last week’s game, the Patriots often took a step forward and followed it with two steps backwards.

“We felt like we were able to move the ball when we didn’t have the penalties,” Jones said. “We just really shot ourselves in the foot when we were able to get something going. Offensively, we don’t think we really have to change anything.”

The Westover defense did look strong despite the scoring drives. They held Monroe to under 100 rushing yards and had an interception in the first quarter.

Albany struggled in its game on both sides of the ball. The Indians were victimized by the big play three separate times for touchdowns.

The Mitchell County defense also burned Albany with a big play when they returned an interception 68 yards for a touchdown.

“We were in position to make some plays and we didn’t make the plays,” Albany coach Felton Williams said. “The previous game we had miscues such as penalties and whatnot. This time we were in position and we just didn’t tackle. We didn’t tackle or we made mistakes that were very costly.”

Williams said he will make a change at quarterback. After starting Andru Watts for the first two games, the Indians will go with Jordon Walton tonight. Walton and Watts were in a quarterback competition for the majority of summer practices.

“Andru (Watts) is a great kid and great athlete, but we will go with Jordon Walton,” Williams said. “We are going to give Jordon a try. We came in this season with a two-headed monster so we are just going to go in another direction and see what it does for us offensively. We want to see if he can manage the game a little better.”

The game is scheduled to get underway at 7:30 p.m.