September 22, 2012
By GREG BRILL
Special to The Winchester

WINCHESTER — James Wood did all it could to compete with unbeaten Skyline for a half on Friday night.

The Colonels were moving the ball well, had two more first downs than the Hawks did, and trailed by just seven points after two quarters.

But when Skyline came back for the second half, the Hawks got back to playing to their strengths and had the game on ice by the early minutes of the fourth quarter.

Skyline scored on drives of 65, 68, and 56 yards to begin the second half and rolled to a 39-19 win over James Wood at Kelican Stadium in the Northwestern District opener for both football teams.

James Wood (1-4, 0-1) never led but still put up a good fight in the first half. The Colonels moved the ball well on the ground and through the air, and held an explosive Skyline offense to just two touchdowns.
The Hawks quickly found themselves in a game, and one player even hinted at the team possibly looking past the Colonels, who have lost four straight.

“It was a good feeling to come out of here with a victory, because we started out a little slow,” said Skyline senior back Kylmen Breeden, who scored two touchdowns in the win. “They’re a hard-nosed team. We came into this game a little shaky. We may have underestimated them a bit.

“We just knew they weren’t going to lay down [in the second half], so we couldn’t either. We’re a better team. We know that.”

After James Wood lost two-way linemen Eric Bearer late in the first half to a leg injury, the middle was open even more for Skyline (4-0, 1-0) to pick up big chunks of yardage.

Overall, the Hawks picked up 355 rushing yards (9.3 yards per) on 38 carries.

The ground game began to push the Colonels even more off the ball in the third period, and Skyline (4-0, 1-0) quickly put to rest any hopes the Colonels had off an upset.

Skyline coach Heath Gilbert was happy to have the return of guard Travis Siever to the lineup after the 300-pound junior missed two games with an injury.

With holes opened wide, senior Dayvon Haight (game-high 150 yards), senior fullback Chris Grady (38) and Breeden (70) were free to pull off either big-play runs or chunks of yards that keep drives alive.

“I was really proud of our kids for coming out in the second half and taking control of the line of scrimmage and running it down the field,” Gilbert said. “We got our best offensive linemen back [Siever], and that makes a big difference for us.”

Up 14-7 at the half, Skyline took the second half kickoff and went 65 yards in just five plays to score.

Haight had a runs of nine and 15 yards, Jerrius Baltimore went for nine, Grady hammered his way for 10, and quarterback Aaron Jeremiah got Colonels to bite on a fake into the line that drew four or five tacklers to Grady, while Jeremiah rolled around the tackle and went virtually untouched 22 yards for a touchdown with 9:33 left.

The momentum was back on Skyline’s side.

“The offensive line is a workhorse and they work hard every day and we knew we could run the lead and the trap all day,” said Haight. “The coaches ran the ball more in the second half, and we got touchdowns.”

James Wood drove to Skyline’s 19 before defensive end Brenden O’Conner caught James Wood quarterback Cam Butler with a blind-side sack and loss of 13 on fourth down.

Skyline then scored again, going 68 yards in nine plays. Haight picked up 15 yards on first down, and the Hawks capped the drive when Jeremiah (7 of 11, 68 yards, two touchdown passes) found tight end Nick Helmick wide open for a 20-yard scoring pass.

A swing pass from Jeremiah to Breeden from six yards out early in the fourth made it 32-7 and looked down the outcome for Skyline.

The Hawks picked up 423 total yards in their win.

“It was [about] getting back to our strengths — with our read option and running off-tackle, those are things we do well,” Gilbert said. “Couple that with the play-action pass, and Chris Grady doing a good job for us. We run that trap and veer inside, forcing those guys to honor [Grady]. When Aaron pulled it on the [opening second-half] touchdown, [the Colonels] were all sucked in on it..”

Haight opened the scoring with his 9-yard run with 3:41 left in the first quarter. The drive covered 90 yards, though most of it came on a gain of 52 by Haight on the first play.

Breeden made a nice catch ona low-thrown ball by Jeremiah for a gain of 15, and Haight scored on the next play.

James Wood had a chance to tie early in the second after Devin Moncreif recovered a Jeremiah fumble.

The running of seniors Dallas Corbin (team-best 90 yards on 19 carries) and Joey Eubank moved the Colonels to the Skyline 34 before senior Bradley Skillman was stopped for a one-yard loss on fourth down by Skyline’s Zach Blair and Marcus Turner.

On its first play back on offense, Skyline got a 68-yard scoring run from Breeden on a direct snap that made it 14-0 with 5:26 left in the first half.

“It was supposed to be motion across, but not everyone was on the same page,” Breeden said. “I just happened to make one person miss, then another.”

To its credit, James Wood came right back and got on the board. A screen to Skillman (six catches, 76 yards) that gained 33 yards moved the Colonels to the Skyline 4.

Eubank followed his blockers two plays later in from the 5 to make it 14-7 at the half.

The Colonels did the best they could, but 18 straight points by Skyline to begin the second half proved to be too much to overcome.

The Colonels often moved the ball at will on the Hawks between the 20s. Butler threw for 208 yards and a score on 14 completions, the ground game netted 137 yards, and the unit finished with 18 first downs.

“Skyline’s one of the best we’re going to play,” James Wood coach Mike Bolin said. “Cam’s a gamer and he’s tough. We did some good things tonight and we’ve got to build on those. We’ve just got to correct the mistakes.”

The Colonels got two fourth quarter touchdowns, a 24-yard pass from Butler to Dakota Orndorff and a 13-yard run from Corbin.