Posted: October 6, 2012
By ROBERT NIEDZWIECKI

STEPHENS CITY — The Sherando football team left no room for dramatics this year.

The Warriors scored 20 points before the game was even eight minutes old and ran out to a 30-0 halftime lead en route to a 50-14 victory over James Wood in a Northwestern District game Friday night at Arrowhead Stadium.

Seven of the previous eight games in this rivalry had been decided by seven points or less, and four of those were decided on the final play.

But Sherando (3-3, 1-0 Northwestern) left a different kind of impression this year — the Warriors’ 50 points are the most either team has ever scored in a series that Sherando leads 20-2.
“Our offense was great,” Warriors junior quarterback Reid Entsminger said. “Our offensive line, I’d say that’s the best game we’ve had blocking so far, pass coverage and run-wise.

“Our mentality for our offense was, ‘Let’s score, score as many points as we can, not let up on this team, because it’s a district game.’ The first district game you’ve got to set the tone for the rest of the season. We did a really good job.”

Naturally, a lot of impressive numbers come with scoring 50 points.

Entsminger had a hand in five touchdowns, completing 10 of 17 passes for 243 yards and three touchdowns and running 11 times for 55 yards and two touchdowns.

Amazingly, senior running back Taylor Loudan did not score, but he had three 40-plus-yard plays to set up scores and finished with 188 yards on 16 carries and had 92 yards on four catches.

Adam Whitacre had four catches for 86 yards and two 22-yard touchdown catches, Josh Wagner had a 50-yard touchdown catch, and of course, the Warriors’ defense can’t be forgotten.

The Colonels (1-6, 0-2) finished with 236 yards, but only 55 (six rushing) came during a first half that saw the Warriors pile up 349 of their 519 yards.

“We just talked about putting four quarters together, and winning every single play,” Sherando coach Bill Hall said. “I thought we did a good job of starting fast, executing. I think we’ve done a good job every week progressing, and tonight was the culmination of that.”

The Warriors showed they meant business right away. They forced a three-and-out from the Colonels on their first possession, though a personal foul after the punt pushed Sherando back to its 19-yard line to start its first possession.

But a speedy back like Loudan can change field position in a hurry, and he bounced left on the first carry for a 63-yard run to the James Wood 18. Three plays later Entsminger ran the ball in from the 5 to make it 6-0 at the 8:15 mark of the first quarter (the extra-point snap was bobbled, and the pass for the conversion failed).

Though everyone in the stadium knew coming in that Loudan could run (an area-best 639 yards), Entsminger (429 yards, six TDs, 5 interceptions coming in) showed what the Warriors’ passing game was capable of on Sherando’s next two drives.

Entsminger zipped a pass to Whitacre down the left seam for 22 yards to make it 13-0. And two plays after Josh Ojo (one interception, one fumble recovery) recovered the Warriors’ short squib kickoff, Entsminger used play-action to find Wagner inside the 30 all alone past the defense, and Wagner took it in the rest of the way for a 50-yard touchdown that made it 20-0 only seven minutes and 13 seconds into the game.

“It was just all [reading] the safety,” Entsminger said. “Wherever he was, he mostly took wherever the most [open space] was. We practiced all week with that. We executed it and worked out. Coach Hall had a great scheme and gameplan for this game.”

On defense, Entsminger was impressed with how well the Warriors got to the ball and hit to take away the Colonels’ running game.

“We had all 11 people to the ball most of the time,” said Entsminger, also a safety. “Everyone just wanted to hit today. My man Rhett [Morris], he fills in for me sometimes at safety, and he was snagging people around. He’s a sophomore, and he was laying the wood down tonight. We were a hit squad today.”

The Colonels did put a charge into their fans in the third quarter by scoring 14 unanswered points on two Camden Butler (10 of 22 for 136 yards) touchdown passes — one to Dakota Orndorff (three catches for 59 yards) for 13 yards and the other to Brett Lewin for 8 yards to make it 30-14 with 2:36 left in the third quarter.

But a Loudan 42-yard run on the first play of the ensuing drive led to a George Aston 2-yard touchdown run that made it 36-14, and the Warriors pulled away from there.

James Wood coach Mike Bolin, whose team lost its sixth straight, said he had to give Sherando credit for its performance, and he did credit his team for its second-half performance.

“They’re good, and they blocked well,” he said. “[Entsminger] made some good passes when he had the opportunity.

“We played a little bit better [in the second half]. “Our kids battled. I’ll tell you that. [But Sherando] is a good team.”

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