WINCHESTER — Given that the original and the remake of the movie “Gone in 60 Seconds” came out well before any players on the James Wood High School football team were born, there probably aren’t many Colonels who are familiar with the car-heist film.
James Wood’s high-powered offense is familiar with the concept of working quickly, though. The Colonels are so efficient that they needed less than 20 seconds to steal the game’s momentum on Saturday at Handley’s James R. Wilkins Jr. Stadium.
After senior Parker Kerns prevented a touchdown by swatting away a fourth-down pass in the end zone with 18.5 seconds left, the Colonels flew down the field and covered 82 yards in four plays, with Owen Neal throwing a 35-yard touchdown pass on the final play of the half to Kerns.
After flipping a potential seven-point deficit into the half into a 14-7 lead at the break, James Wood kept its foot on the gas pedal and finished with a 49-14 win for its first victory over the Judges since 2018 and its first eight-win season since 2008.
The Colonels scored the first 21 points of the second half and recorded TDs on all five of their second-half possessions. James Wood had 507 yards on Saturday, with 313 yards and six TDs coming on 35 rushing attempts. Jackson Ledford ran for 168 yards and two TDs on just 10 carries and Xavier Price also had two rushing scores.
“It’s an honor to be able to do what people before us couldn’t,” said the junior linebacker and running back Ledford. “We’re going to keep going. We’re not stopping here.”
Incredibly, James Wood’s scoring and total offense average will drop after the Colonels (8-1, 5-1 Northwestern District) came in averaging 56.5 points and 549.1 yards per game.
The rushing yards on Saturday were huge, but it’s through the air where the Colonels have had their most success with 307.9 yards per game compared to 251.2 on the ground heading into Saturday. Against the Judges (5-4, 3-3), the Colonels once again showed they can make the concept of a New York minute seem slow with their aerial attack. Handley’s goal of controlling the clock and keeping the ball away from James Wood’s offense worked extremely well until the final minute of the first half.
Colonels coach Todd Wilson said the Colonels practice 80-yard, short-time possessions during walk-throughs the day before they play a game. On Friday, James Wood practiced going 80 yards in 28 seconds — which wound up being fewer yards and more time than it needed — in advance of the contest against the Judges.
“It’s situational football that we put a lot of work into,” Wilson said. “The biggest thing is that the kids have confidence. We practice that stuff so when it’s time to have to do something like that, it’s kind of second nature.”
Neal (9 of 12 for 194 yards and one TD; 13 carries for 33 yards and one TD) started the last possession of the first half by hitting Price (67 total yards and two rushing TDs) slanting over the middle. The Colonels called timeout with 13.2 seconds left.
Next, Neal zipped a pass over the middle to Kerns (three catches, 89 yards) for 17 yards to the Handley 44-yard line. James Wood stopped the clock again with a timeout at the 8.4-second mark.
On the third play, James Wood sent Jackson Lang in motion from left to right, and he was open on an out pattern. Lang continued toward the sideline after catching Neal’s pass and got out of bounds after a gain of 9 yards with just under three seconds remaining.
The next play embodied the type of Colonel improvisation that Handley coach Jake Smith wanted his team to be mindful of heading into Saturday’s game. Pressure from the Judges forced Neal to step up into the pocket. As he neared the line of scrimmage, he veered right to buy himself more time, then fired a dart on the run that an open Kerns went low to get in the back of the zone.
The James Wood fans roared, and the Handley faithful were stunned into silence.
“We have all the confidence in the world in our offense, especially giving us three timeouts,” Neal said.
Neal said one of the keys to that final possession was staying relaxed. Neal certainly needed to be cool on the final play.
“The [defensive backs were deep] and they had four-man pressure,” Neal said. “They got pressure, so I just had to do a good job of continuing the play. I saw Parker running down the seam, and I saw a tiny hole, and I threw it. Parker made a great catch.”
Kerns — a baseball star like Neal — is playing high school football for the first time this year. One of the things he’s learned is that a play is never over when the ball is in his friend’s hands.
“[Offensive coordinator Joey] Yurish told me how to do the scramble drill,” Kerns said. “You see Owen get out of the pocket, and you run and find open grass.”
Draven Hernandez kicked the second of his seven extra points to give James Wood a 14-7 lead at the break. It’s possible James Wood would have still found a way to score had it been forced to field a kickoff before its offense took the field again, but the Colonels are glad they never had to find out.
Triston Darling (25 carries for 147 yards; 7 of 18 for 117 yards and a TD) put Handley in excellent position to take the lead with a 19-yard run to the James Wood 26. The Judges picked up 8 yards on the next three plays to set up a fourth-and-2 at the 18, and then Darling threw a perfect pass toward Jahkobi Warren, who was looking back at the ball as he ran through the end zone toward the right sideline.
It looked like Warren (102 total yards, including a 31-yard passing TD when Darling briefly left the game with an injury) was about to catch a TD pass, but Kerns swiped at the ball just before it reached his hands for a critical turnover on downs that left the game tied 7-7.
“I was in man coverage, and I had to be on my guy,” Kerns said. “He broke away for a second, and I thought he was honestly going to catch it on me. I had to speed up, go full sprint at him, and break it up and do what I could for the team. That would have been a big play for them.”
James Wood is certainly glad Kerns is now making big plays for the football team.
“He’s been my best friend since middle school,” Neal said. “Ever since I’ve known him, we’ve played travel baseball together. He’s always been a great athlete. I’ve always wanted him to come out here. Wish we could have gotten him the other three years [of high school], but he’s a huge piece of what we have now.”
Kerns said he played a couple of years of middle school football. The All-Region First Team pitcher and third baseman said multiple members of the coaching staff and multiple players suggested he give football another shot. He’s recorded 12 catches for 318 yards and four TDs including Saturday and contributed 11 tackles and an interception prior to Saturday.
“As soon as I got to [summer workouts], I knew I wanted to play,” Kerns said. “The environment is awesome. The coaching staff is awesome. The players are awesome. Everybody’s together. The teamwork is amazing. The coaching staff is amazing. They’re getting us ready for games like this and environments like this.”
Wilson said Kerns’ success as an athlete before joining the football team made him an excellent fit immediately.
“He’s a great kid to be around,” Wilson said. “He’s loving playing football. He’s coachable. He’ll ask questions. He wants to get better. For someone who’s just playing his senior year, you would think they would just kind of show up and go through the motions or rely on some athletic ability. He wants to get better at his positions offensively and defensively every week.”
Kerns’ pass breakup and TD ended a half that certainly could have been more promising for Handley.
The Judges opened the game with a seven-play, 73-yard drive that culminated with Shaun Ferrell (three catches, 76 yards, two TDs) making a leaping grab with a defender on him in the end zone for a 34-yard score on fourth-and-11 off a pass from Darling. The first of two Jefferson Pineda extra points made it 7-0 at the 8:52 mark of the first quarter.
The Judges then forced a fumble after a pass to the right flat that Vinny Hooper recovered at the Handley 4. The Judges drove to the James Wood 42, but a high and wide snap on second-and-11 forced Darling to retreat and fall on the ball at the Handley 40 for a 17-yard loss.
Two plays later, a 15-yard punt gave James Wood the ball at its own 41, and the Colonels needed only five plays to go 59 yards and tie the game 7-7. Ledford ran the ball in from 20 yards out with 6:20 left in the second quarter.
The rest of the half was defined by a stretch that could have ended with Handley up 14-7 or at least tied 7-7 instead of trailing 14-7. While Handley’s defenders were deep at first on the final play, it appeared as if they lost track of Wood’s receivers after Neal began scrambling.
“You can’t have guys behind you on the last play of the half,” Smith said. “We’re playing prevent defense, and we let receivers get behind us. You can’t make mistakes like that. It’s frustrating, and it’s difficult.
“Then in the second half, you get down two scores, and it kind of takes you out of your game plan a little bit. When you go down three scores, now you’re completely out of your plan in the way in which you wanted the game to go to give yourself an opportunity to win.”
James Wood made great use of running to the edges with jet sweeps and pitches from Neal, and the Colonels opened the second half with a Price 12-yard jet sweep to cap an eight-play, 74-yard drive for a 21-7 Colonels edge with 8:52 left in the third quarter.
Handley came right back at James Wood, but the red zone issues that were a problem against Sherando last week (0 for 3 in the first half) cropped up again.
A 42-yard run by Darling got Handley to the James Wood 7. But Jalen Washington (12 carries, 37 yards) was dropped for 2-yard losses on each of the next two plays. James Wood then got excellent pass penetration on two straight plays, with Matrim Ray and Anthony Salvati combining for an 11-yard sack on third down. Pressure in Darling’s face led to a fourth-down pass out of the back of the end zone from the 22 to give the ball to James Wood with 5:09 left in the third quarter.
Rushing touchdowns by Neal (1 yard; two plays after a 68-yard run by Ledford) and Price (5 yards; this after a turnover on downs at the Handley 29) put the Colonels up 35-7 with 1:12 left in the third quarter.
The Judges did make one last push. Two plays after Darling left with an injury, Warren connected with Ferrel for a 31-yard TD to cut the Judges’ deficit to 35-14 with 16 seconds left in the third quarter. James Wood then fumbled the kickoff return, Handley recovered at the Colonels’ 18, and Darling returned two plays later.
The Judges had second-and-goal at the 3. But Darling was stopped for no gain on a run to the right on second down, was stretched out and dropped for a loss of 1 on third down, and had a pass that a receiver got his hands on but couldn’t bring in on fourth down with 8:30 left.
Handley had a solid 330 yards, but the Colonels had four sacks and made big plays when they needed to on defense. Wilson praised the job others did in his absence, but lineman Heston LaRue returned after missing three games due to injury to aid the defense.
“I thought [defensive coordinator Richard] Davy, his game plan was great, and [defensive analyst Brian] Thomas does a really good job helping us out from the [coaches’] box, relaying stuff that he’s seeing,” Wilson said.
“Everybody did their job today,” Ledford said.
Touchdown runs by Dane Tews (6 yards) and Ledford (25 yards) finished off the win for the Colonels. Wilson and James Wood’s players praised the work of the Colonels’ offensive line. Aidric Yurish added four catches for 77 yards for James Wood to surpass 1,000 receiving yards for the second straight year.
James Wood’s main goal right now is to make a deep playoff run, but Wilson and his players said it was good to end a six-game losing streak to the Judges and take a step forward after two straight seven-win seasons.
“I know it means a lot to James Wood community [to beat Handley], since they were the only two schools [in Winchester-Frederick County] for a long time,” Wilson said. “But every win is special.”
Smith praised the work of players like Darling and Warren, whose older brother Demarion missed Saturday’s game after returning from a two-game injury absence against Sherando last week.
“[Darling] played hard on both sides of the ball,” Smith said. “He ran over a defensive lineman late in the game, which shows his effort, desire and will to win. I think he did a pretty good job for the most part with doing what we were trying to accomplish on offense. And defensively, I think he did a pretty job of playing in the center of the field and trying to take away some of those crossing routes [the Colonels] like to run.”
Handley will try to end a three-game losing streak on Friday at Millbrook.
— Contact Robert Niedzwiecki at rniedzwiecki@winchesterstar.com
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