September 7, 2012
By Robert Stocks

WINCHESTER — Following Tuesday night’s practice, James Wood head football coach Mike Bolin said one of the great things about football is that it’s easy to turn the page.

With games on back-to-back weeks, teams really can’t afford to dwell too much on what happened the previous week so it’s no surprise Bolin said his team has put last week’s 52-19 loss to Loudoun Valley in the rearview mirror.

“That’s the great thing about football — you’ve got a seven-day break and you get to play again,” Bolin said. “We go into every game thinking we’ve got a chance to win. It’s not going to be easy because [Musselman’s] tough. They’re as good as they’ve been in the four times that I’ve played them as a head coach.”

The Colonels (1-1), who lost several players because of injuries in last week’s loss at Loudoun Valley, won’t be at full strength heading into tonight’s home opener (at 7) against Musselman (1-1) at Jerry L. Kelican Stadium.
Bolin said following last week’s loss that his team “was out of linemen” at the end of the game, and the Colonels’ fourth-year head coach said three starting linemen, including senior Erik Bearer, are questionable tonight.

“This is probably the most banged up we’ve been in a while,” Bolin said. “We lost Erik at the beginning of the second quarter [last week] which really hurt. He’s one of those guys in the huddle that keeps them motivated and keeps them going.

“A couple guys stepped in and then a couple of those guys got hurt so we’re looking at different guys there and trying to patch everything together.”

The Colonels face a Musselman team that put it all together offensively last week against Sherando. After struggling to get their ground game going in a 41-28 loss at Skyline in the season opener, the Applemen got their running game going in a 21-19 win over Sherando last Friday. Musselman rushed for 110 yards (on 43 carries) and quarterback Caleb Dembeck completed 14 of 21 attempts for 129 yards and a touchdown.

Musselman coach Denny Price said his team did improve from its loss to Skyline in the season opener, saying it was a better effort in nearly every phase — with the exception of Dembeck’s single-game record of 389 yards passing against Skyline.

“Offensively to be able to get [Josh] Ferguson into the game running the ball, and our fullback into the game running the ball, that was a key for us,” Price said. “Once we get the running game going hopefully that will help us get better and be a pretty balanced team.”

Ferguson kept the Applemen’s offense going in last year’s 23-20 win over James Wood, rushing for 161 yards and two touchdowns.

After giving up 305 yards on the ground in last week’s loss to Loudoun Valley, the Colonels know they must do a better job defensively tonight against Musselman.

“They’ve got a big offensive line and their running game is really great,” said James Wood senior defensive back/wide receiver Dakota Orndorff. “We’ve got to try to really contain, make tackles and don’t let them break tackles.”

One of the things Bolin did point out to his defensive players when they watched film of last week’s loss was how they need to stick with their fundamentals on defense.

“We showed our kids on film that if you don’t do the little things right it leads to big things [for the opposing team],” Bolin said. “If you don’t drop and take on a double team it takes out two or three guys and it ends up being a running lane the size of a truck. We weren’t playing fundamentally sound and that was what was most concerning.”

And the Colonels must play solid defense and stick to their assignments when facing a balanced team like Musselman, who rushed for 119 yards and passed for 129 against Sherando last week.

Bolin said the Applemen have several experienced players who have been three-year starters.

“When you have a team that’s balanced that forces you to be in your basic defense and play basic fundamentals,” Bolin said. “We’ve got to stick to our guns and stick to our game plan. Until last week we’ve done a good job stopping most teams’ rushing attacks and forcing them to pass but it’s tough when they can do both. It’s going to be a challenge for us.”

James Wood running back Bradley Skillman led the Colonels, rushing for 84 yards on 14 carries last week. Add in a big kickoff return, and Bolin said Skillman had almost 200 total yards.

Going up against a physical team like Musselman, James Wood quarterback Cam Butler hopes Bearer can play because the Colonels need to be as solid as possible up front.

“Their offensive and defensive line is huge so we’re going to have to be able to block well,” said Butler, who completed 7 of 18 attempts for 90 yards and a touchdown and ran for another score in last week’s loss. “I think that’s probably the biggest thing — blocking — because they have big guys up front.

“I think we’re going to have to throw the ball when we need to and complete some passes when we have to. We always know they’re going to be a tough team, very physical and big up front. They have great skill positions and their running back is one of the best runners in the state of West Virginia so we know what’s coming.”

While the Colonels struggled last week after a season-opening win at Heritage, Musselman heads into tonight’s matchup coming off of its best game of the year.

“We had a tough week [against Skyline] and they made a big step forward,” Price said. “They key is to take another step forward and get better each week.”

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