September 29, 2012
By ROBERT STOCKS

WINCHESTER — When Warren County broke from its postgame huddle following a resounding 32-7 non-district football victory over James Wood, the Wildcats summed up their win pretty succinctly.

“1-2-3 Homewreckers,”shouted the unbeaten Wildcats after sending James Wood to its fifth straight loss and spoiling the Colonels’ homecoming game at Jerry L. Kelican Stadium Friday night.

The Wildcats’ wrecking crew was led by senior quarterback Tyler Post and senior running back Timmy Green, who combined for 302 yards rushing and three touchdowns.

“We really established our gameplan this week, and we were able to do everything we talked about,” said Post, who rushed for 131 yards on eight carries and completed 8 of 12 attempts for 76 yards and a touchdown. “That’s really how it turned out. We were trying to mix it up a little bit.”
The Wildcats (5-0) set the tone right away on the game’s opening drive. Warren County marched down the field with a six-play, 75-yard scoring drive. Post broke off a 24-yard run for a first down at the James Wood 31. Four plays later, Jeffrey Budwash found a lane through the middle of the Colonel defense for a 19-yard touchdown. The Wildcats added a two-point conversion with Zane Grudzinski hauling in the pass from Matthew Nicholson to put Warren ahead 8-0 with 8:25 left in the opening quarter.

James Wood (1-5) struggled to get much going against Warren’s 4-4 defense.

The Colonels went three-and-out on their opening series, and Warren started its second drive on its own 21.

The Wildcats’ ground game went to work with Green ripping off a 9-yard run followed by a 4- yard reception by Chris Larsen for a first down at the Wood 34. Two plays later, Green scored from 63 yards out to put Warren ahead 15-0 with 5:52 remaining in the first quarter.

On its ensuing possession, James Wood put together its best drive of the first half. Bradley Skillman’s 21-yard run gave the Colonels a first down at the Wildcat 28.

Two plays later on third-and-2 at the 21, Colonels junior quarterback Cam Butler tried to hit Brady Hepner in the left corner of the end zone but Nicholson swatted the ball away for a perfectly timed deflection on man-to-man coverage.

On fourth down, Colonels senior Joey Eubank broke loose for a 6-yard run for a Wood first down at the Wildcat 15.

Warren’s defense shut down the Colonels from there with Green sacking Butler to put the Colonels in a fourth-and-23 at the Warren 28. James Wood went for it on fourth down but Butler’s pass to tight end Mason Longerbeam fell incomplete along the Colonels’ sideline.

“We shot ourselves in the foot there,”James Wood coach Mike Bolin said. “They’re good. They’ve got a good defense.”

Warren County’s defense forced three-and-outs on four of James Wood’s five drives in the first half. The Colonels were limited to just 54 yards (including just 30 yards rushing on 16 carries) in the first half.

After scoring on its first two drives, Post set up the Wildcats’ next two scores by breaking off big runs.

His 51-yard run set up a 34-yard field goal by Blake Steele that put Warren ahead 18-0 with 4:55 left in the half.

On the Wildcats’ next drive, Post broke free for 52 yards before getting knocked out of bounds at the Colonel 3. Two plays later, Green added his second score from a yard out to put Warren County ahead 25-0 at the half.

Green and Post accounted for all but 50 of the Wildcats’ 352 yards rushing.

“That was something that we wanted to do,” said Warren County coach Tony Tallent of his team’s ability to get its ground game going early against the Colonels. “We knew James Wood had a big line, and we just felt we had to do some stuff to get some holes and some gaps.

“Tyler is the kind of kid that you can’t account for him in certain formations. We’ve got some playmakers on the edge, and Timmy Green is running the ball real hard. When you make yourself multifaceted it’s hard [for opponents] to cover all the bases. I think that’s what we try to do as a team.”

While the Colonels went three-and-out and turned the ball over on downs four times in the first half, they turned the ball over (with two fumbles and an interception) on their first three drives to start the second half.

A botched snap resulted in a fumble recovery by Green to end James Wood’s opening drive of the second half.

The Wildcats needed just three plays to turn the Colonels’ turnover into points when Nicholson out-jumped Wood’s Dallas Corbin for a 20-yard touchdown pass from Post.

The Colonels ran just five offensive plays in the third quarter, turning the ball over twice. Overall, the Colonels had three turnovers on their first seven plays in the second half.

The Colonels blocked a 27-yard field goal attempt by Steele and then put together a scoring drive late in the fourth quarter.

Skillman, who led James Wood with 41 yards on four carries, capped an eight-play, 85-yard drive with a 15-yard run to put James Wood on the board with 5:55 left.

“They’re just a really good football team, and they played really well,”Bolin said. “They’re high tempo and they’ll get after you.”

Bolin did not make James Wood’s players available for comment.

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