McHale, Colonels Gets First Test From Former Millbrook Coach Prosser

Posted: August 30, 2013

By ROBERT NIEDZWIECKI

WINCHESTER — For the first time in 46 years, Mark McHale is about to be directly involved in a James Wood High School football game.

Naturally, there’s some emotion that comes with that. But as unique as it’s going to be tonight for the Colonels’ new head coach — who was a Northwestern League All-Star center who helped James Wood go 9-1 as a senior in 1967 — McHale said it’s the energy of his players that’s really got him going this week.

“They’re really pumped up for the game, and you can’t help but get caught up in their excitement,” said McHale, whose numerous coaching stops since graduating from James Wood include Florida State University, the University of South Carolina and West Virginia University.

The matchup between Heritage (2-8 in 2012) and James Wood (1-9) at 7 p.m. today at the Colonels’ Jerry L. Kelican Stadium likely ranks near the bottom of the hundreds of matchups across the state as far as returning wins. But if there was a scale to compare games in terms of intrigue, this one would rank among the higher ones.

Not only will local fans get to see how McHale’s players are shaping up, but they’ll also get the first real look at a coach who just left. In January, Reed Prosser announced he was taking the head football coaching job at Heritage after leading Millbrook to a 40-36 record over seven seasons.

Tonight is yet another “One degree of Walter Barr” game in terms of head coaches. McHale — who played for the legendary coach at James Wood — was an assistant coach for Barr at Shepherd University for four years, and Prosser was an assistant coach at Shenandoah University during the two years Barr was there.

But the main thing about tonight’s game for both teams is putting the rough 2012 season in the past by getting off to a good start, and hopefully, building some momentum. James Wood earned a 30-27 against the Pride in last year’s opener in Leesburg, but couldn’t manage another win the rest of the year.

Prosser really isn’t sure how much varsity game experience his players have, because when he arrived he told all his players that they had a blank slate.

So far, he feels they’ve come together well.

“We took care of the X’s and O’s early, had a team camp, did 7-on-7s, we did activities like egg tosses and water balloon tosses,” he said. “They’re working hard to improve. It’s been good.”

McHale said the week leading up to today’s game has been something of a mixed bag for the Colonels.

“We ran the ball better [in our scrimmage against Musselman, W.Va.], but we didn’t tackle as well as we needed to,” McHale said. “That needs to get better, because Heritage is going to spread you out. They’ve got a lot of team speed, and we’re going to have to tackle in space.”

McHale said Heritage is capable of doing a lot of things out of its pistol offense. Prosser said his team will feature read-option looks and an inside zone running scheme.

The Pride’s quarterback is 5-foot-11, 155-pound junior Cameron Knight, who McHale notes throws a good deep ball. McHale said he expects Heritage to throw more than it runs.

“He’s really grown into the position,” said Prosser of Knight.

Heritage’s backfield options include tailbacks Grant Westbrook (senior, 5-10, 185) and Jefferson Garcia (junior, 5-5, 135) and fullback Daniel Adigun (5-9, 215), a junior who also plays middle linebacker and can dead-lift 560 pounds.

“[Garcia] is like a waterbug out there,” Prosser said.

According to McHale, James Wood’s offense will not be full strength — he said last year’s starting quarterback, Cam Butler, has yet to be cleared for contact. Butler was diagnosed with mononucleosis on Aug. 4.

Junior Brady Hepner will play quarterback instead. Sophomore Tyler Bishop is expected to be James Wood’s main tailback, and Hepner’s top receiving target is senior Dakota Orndorff (32 catches, 453 yards, four touchdowns). The Colonels figure to lean on their running game with Butler out against Broadway’s four-man front.

“A lot of these guys have played James Wood the past couple of years, so they know it’s going to be tough, physical contest,” Prosser said. “It looks like they’re running inside zone more, so we’ve got to account for that.”

Obviously, both teams want to open with a win tonight, but as long as a disciplined effort is there, each team knows it will at least be on the right track this year.

“As long as they know what they gotta do,” McHale said, “and they’re trying as hard as they can. That’s all I ask.”

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