CULPEPER — After the completion of Friday’s high school football game at Broman Field, a few of the James Wood football players decided to do backflips.
Whether it’s practice or at a game, junior wide receiver and cornerback Xavier Price — one of the participants — said it’s a skill the players enjoy doing. If Price continues the pattern he’s on next week against Sherando, he might get another chance to show he truly is the best backflipper on the team that he claims to be.
After scoring two touchdowns in the opener against Clarke County and intercepting two passes last week against Dominion, Price had another two-TD game against Culpeper County to help the Colonels remain perfect with a 24-6 win.
Price contributed to a total team effort from James Wood (3-0), which saw its lead cut to 7-6 on the Blue Devils’ second possession of the game but held Culpeper County (2-1) scoreless on its last five possessions.
In its toughest test of the season, James Wood finished with a 285-224 yard advantage and came up with big plays when it needed them.
A 42-yard interception return by Dane Tews set up a 3-yard jet sweep TD run by Price (three catches, 68 yards, TD) with 3:54 left in the second quarter. That gave James Wood a double-digit lead for the remainder of the game, with the second of three Aidan Bell extra points making it 17-6.
“This was a physical football game,” said James Wood coach Todd Wilson, whose team won its first two games by a combined 101-9. “[Culpeper is] a very physical football team. They’re big up front. I think it was a good test for us. We needed a team to come out and give us some trouble in some areas. [Culpeper County] is going to win a lot of football games this year. I feel like we beat a really good opponent tonight.”
The Blue Devils definitely made James Wood work for the win.
After the Colonels forced a punt on the game’s opening possession, they took over at their own 46 after a 14-yard punt return by Price. Six plays later, Culpeper appeared to have James Wood right where it wanted with a third-and-9 play in which it forced quarterback Owen Neal to scramble to the right.
But Neal bought himself time and fired a perfect dart to Price in the right side of the end zone, who stood perfectly still as he caught the ball with 7:07 left in the first quarter. Bell’s extra point made it 7-0.
“I’m just trying to find open grass so [Neal] can find an open receiver,” said Price of his mindset on the play. “It worked out.”
On a day when it was difficult at times to pick up yards on the ground (James Wood had 127 yards on 33 attempts but just 18 on 11 carries in the first half), Neal’s ability to throw with precision on the run is a quality that should serve James Wood well all year. Neal was 7 of 12 for 158 yards, two TDs and one interception (the pick deflected off a receiver’s hand late in the game on a fourth-down red-zone play) and ran 11 times for 31 yards.
“He makes plays either way with his legs or keeping his eyes downfield,” Wilson said. “He’s doing a really good job.”
Culpeper demonstrated its physical nature on the ensuing possession.
On an 18-play, 80-yard drive that took nine minutes and 23 seconds, it converted a third-and-5, a fourth-and-4, a third-and-6, and lastly a fourth-and-goal from the 3-yard line. Riley Vinyard (21 carries, 116 yards) picked up those final yards by pushing up the middle and reaching across the goal line just before he hit the ground. Kaden McCullough partially blocked the extra point kick — it went wide to the left — and the Colonels maintained a 7-6 lead with 9:44 left in the second quarter.
Bell — who has made all 17 of his kicks this year — converted a 30-yard field goal attempt to end an eight-play, 50-yard drive on James Wood’s next possession to make it 10-6 with 6:49 left in the second quarter.
The next three minutes went a long way toward deciding the outcome.
After Culpeper ripped off runs of nine and seven yards on the first two plays of its next drive, Riley Lentz took a shotgun snap at the Blue Devils’ 44 and spun to the right.
He turned to find heavy pressure coming off the edge from James Wood, and Tews was able to step in front of a receiver and return the ball from the Culpeper 49 to the Blue Devils’ 7.
“I saw the ball come my way, I got in front of him, I took it, and I just kept going,” Tews said.
Three plays later, Price swept right to left, took a handoff from Neal and cut forward after he got past the numbers and went into the end zone for a 17-6 lead with 3:54 left in the first half.
Price is enjoying making so many big plays early in the season.
“When I get the ball, I feel like I can really do whatever I want, and it helps the team,” Price said.
“Xavier, he’s an explosive receiver, and we’re trying to get the ball in his hands as much as we can,” Wilson said. “He’s one of those guys, once he gets in space, he’s probably going the distance.”
James Wood’s defense made sure to keep it a two-possession game at halftime. After a holding penalty on a passing play, James Wood got pressure on fourth-and-20 at the Colonel 35 on a passing play and forced an incompletion from Lentz (4 of 12 for 35 yards) to take possession with 16 seconds left in the half.
“The D-line did a really good job of pressuring the quarterback [throughout the game],” Tews said.
The Colonels then completed the scoring with the opening possession of the second half.
Three straight runs from Jeremiah Hodel (team-high 42 yards on 10 carries) netted 25 yards. The nine-play, 63-yard drive was capped by Neal hitting an open Aidric Yurish on a slant for an 11-yard TD and a 24-6 lead with 8:22 left in the third quarter.
The game was bogged down by penalties on both sides after that — Culpeper ended the game with 11 flags and James Wood had 10 — but the main thing for the Colonels was their defense remained stout.
Culpeper’s crowd got a jolt of excitement when the Blue Devils recovered a muffed punt after a three-and-out at the James Wood 47 with 6:46 left in the third quarter. But a fumble on a second-and-5 play at the 6 resulted in a 7-yard loss, a penalty pushed the Blue Devils back to the 18 and a desperation throw by Lentz on fourth-and-15 was broken up by Xander Manzo in the end zone for a turnover on downs with 23 seconds in the third quarter.
“We helped them out at times with penalties and things like that, but we got them behind the sticks a few times, and that really helped us defensively,” Wilson said. “From the film, we knew what they did offensively. They like to [target linebackers with blocks and] run the ball iso, run some counter and power type of stuff, and they had a few pass plays off of that which we practiced really hard [for] this week. We wanted our guys to know they can’t fall asleep, because they throw the ball really well, particularly in the red zone.”
Now, the Colonels will try to beat Sherando at home next Friday for the first time since 2021 and just the fifth time in school history. Sherando (2-1) beat James Wood by a combined 73-7 in two games last year, including 48-7 in the playoffs.
“It feels real good to be 3-0,” Price said. “We’ve just got to keep coming to work.”
— Contact Robert Niedzwiecki at rniedzwiecki@winchesterstar.com
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