Posted: October 19, 2012
By ROBERT NIEDZWIECKI

WINCHESTER — Given that Millbrook senior T.J. Bruce played football for three years at James Wood, he’s understandably excited about tonight’s Homecoming contest at 7 against the Colonels at Millbrook.

Of course, as last week showed, any moment on the field with his quarterback Justin Neff can be a great moment. The two teamed up five times — four times for touchdowns — for 157 yards in last week’s 49-6 win over Brentsville last week.

“I was really impressed with the way we passed the ball deep,” Bruce said. “We’d been working on it all week, to be able to just sling the ball deep and get behind [defensive backs], and I just liked how we were able to work on our fundamental routes.”

That deep passing game is just part of the problem that opponents of the Pioneers (4-3, 0-1 Northwestern District) face every week.

In a run-dominated area, this year’s Millbrook team has proven to be the first area team in a few years that can routinely explode through the air (1,338 yards, for an average of 191 per game) or on the ground (1,221, 174 pg).
Neff (1,275 yards, 16 touchdowns, eight interceptions), who has connected with six different players for at least eight receptions (Bruce leads with 24 catches for 509 yards and eight touchdowns) can do a lot of damage through the air. But no opponent goes into a game not thinking about what senior running back Justin Anderson (97 carries for 781 yards and seven touchdowns, including 175 yards and two touchdowns last week) is capable of.

In short, there’s going to be a lot for the Colonels (1-6, 0-2) to keep track of as they come off a bye trying to snap a six-game losing streak this week.

“They’re a fast-paced offense. They get up on the ball and they go,” James Wood coach Mike Bolin said. “It’s a different Millbrook team for sure from what they’ve shown in the past. They’re really confident in the passing game, they’ve got really good receivers, and a good quarterback.

“But you’ve got to be prepared for both run and pass, because [Anderson] runs the ball really well, and they’re going to give you pass sets that they run the ball out of. You can’t take a whole lot of chances, because you don’t get a whole lot of tendencies from them, so we’ve got to be ready to defend both.”

Millbrook coach Reed Prosser said his players have done a good job understanding that there is going to be a lot of variation in how they attack week-to-week.

“If you look at us statistically, we’ve had four different receivers lead us in a game,” Prossser said. “Justin Neff has done a really nice job, and Justin Anderson has done a really good job getting back to his form. We’re excited where we are right now, but a lot of what we do is dictated by how people align to us. How they align is going to dictate how we try to attack them.”

Even though winless Brentsville has struggled mightily this year, Prosser was impressed with how a Millbrook team that hadn’t won since Sept. 14 against Harrisonburg (the Pioneers had a bye week in between two losses) showed right from the start that it was determined to right the ship on its season, needing just a minute and 50 seconds to score its first touchdown.

“Any time you have two losses [in a row], you begin to question yourself a little bit. It doesn’t really matter what level, pro, high school, Little League, any time you don’t experience success, doubt always creeps in,” Prosser said. “It’s difficult to go ahead and get juiced up and make sure you have a lot of intensity — particularly after a bus ride to Brentsville, because that’s a tough trip. We had a lot energy and enthusiasm and executed well in the first half.”

While the Pioneers were glad to have the opportunity to dial the intensity up last week, the Colonels were grateful to have the opportunity to scale it back.

For James Wood, the bye week gave it a chance to refocus and recharge. The Colonels last game was a 50-14 loss to Sherando in which they surrendered 519 yards.

Bolin said the last two weeks went well.

“We got a lot of practice in, and rested up as well,” Bolin said. “We were able to do some things that we weren’t able to do normally.

“It’s nice to get a bye week, because you get a chance to do a lot more work on your stuff and your fundamentals. You’re in a such a short, tight window when you’re in a game week to do all that stuff and still get your game plan in, and get your fronts and your plays that you want to run in. We needed a bye week.”

Of course, even if James Wood didn’t have bye — or Millbrook didn’t play well last week — both squads were going to come out fired up for tonight’s matchup.

The series that James Wood leads 5-4 has been as competitive as it gets. Neither team has won more than two games in a row and since 2005, no game between the two has been decided by more than 10 points. The Colonels won their second straight against Millbrook last year in a 14-7 decision at Kelican Stadium.

James Wood actually came into last year’s game on a five-game losing streak, so the Colonels know that anything’s possible.

“If we can come back and finish with the same record (4-6) as we did last year, we’ll be making a season out of nothing,” said James Wood senior fullback and linebacker Brett Lewin. “Hopefully we can turn it around.”

James Wood will look to get the job done on offense behind quarterback Cam Butler (854 yards, six touchdowns, seven interceptions), wide receiver Dakota Orndorff (20 catches for 311 yards and three touchdowns) and, possibly, leading rusher Dallas Corbin (332 yards, two touchdowns), who missed the last game with an injury.

This year’s Millbrook team made it a point to be a different type of team not just stylistically but also mentally, and defensive end Garrett Williams (team-high 68 tackles and eight tackles for loss) said it’s time to start showing their local rivals what they can do. Millbrook went winless in the district last year.

“I’ve lost to James Wood every year I’ve been at Millbrook, and I really want to get this one my senior year,” he said. “It’s a big rivalry, and it’s definitely a huge game for me personally.”

And as someone who knows both sides of the rivalry, Bruce probably wouldn’t mind getting behind the defense a time or two against his old team.

“This is the type of game you circle on your calendar back when two-a-days started,” Bruce said. “I’m really hyped for this game. I’m really pumped up. I’ve been waiting for this the whole season. I can’t wait to go out there.”

The Pioneers won’t have linemen A.J. Bolden (recovering from an appendectomy) and Jacob Heflin (knee) as well as linebacker Aidan Lewis. Heflin is done for the year.

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