Vikings Shut Out James Wood 17-0

Posted: September 7, 2013
By MARK SAWYER
Special to The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — Coming off a disappointing season-opening loss in which it scored 29 points, held a 15-point lead and rushed for over 300 yards, the James Wood football team was hoping to build on that offensive performance and take the next step to a victory in Week 2.

Unfortunately for the Colonels, their offense couldn’t find the same rhythm and the result was a 17-0 defeat to another Dulles District foe, this time Loudoun Valley, Friday night at Wood’s Kelican Stadium.

In a game in which its defense played well enough to win, the Wood offense just couldn’t get on track in the first half, allowing the Vikings to jump out to a three-score lead and then hold off any Colonel threats there after.

“We didn’t do nearly as well as we did last week blocking and tackling,” said Wood coach Mark McHale. “We’ve got some fundamentals we’ve got to get back to and get down. Bottom line is these kids know they’ve got to be able to block and tackle consistently.

“Last week we played great. I thought we’d play better then we did tonight. We’ll watch film tomorrow, make corrections and line up next week. I’m still proud of them, they played hard.”

Wood (0-2) went three-and-out on its first four possessions of the game and five of their six first half possessions. It wasn’t until there was 5:13 left in the first half that the Colonels picked up their first first down of the game. They only had two the entire first half.

Meanwhile Loudoun Valley (1-0) was taking full advantage of the situation.

Valley started its opening drive of the game in Wood territory thanks to a short punt and the Vikings didn’t take long to make it hurt.

The Vikings went 40 yards in six plays on their opening drive of the season and reigning Dulles District Division 3 Offensive Player of the Year Andrew Cordani capped it off with a 10-yard scoring run to give the Vikings all the points they would need.

With the Colonels’ offensive struggles the Vikings had golden opportunities to add to their lead when both of their next two possessions got into Wood’s territory, but the Colonel defense rose to the occasion both times.

An interception by Colonel defensive back Nick Manuel at the Wood 24-yard line ended the Vikings’ second drive and a blocked field goal on their third possession kept the game at 7-0.

Another three-and-out, however, put an already tired defense back on the field and the Vikings showed their big-play capability. It took Loudoun Valley two plays to drive 70 yards and extend its lead thanks to a 67-yard pass play from quarterback Sully Warner to Ryan Malsch. Cordani took care of the rest with a 3-yard plunge on the next play to make it 14-0 in favor of the visitors.

Aaron Peart drilled a 47-yard field goal with 1:23 left in the half to give the Vikings a 17-0 cushion at the break.

On their first possession of the third quarter the Vikings looked as if they were going to blow the game wide open.

Brandon McGurk’s 67-yard kick return set the Vikings up at the Wood 23-yard line, but the Colonel defense again responded and came up with a huge interception to keep the deficit at 17.

The defense seemed to inspire the offense as well.

Taking over at their own 10, the Colonels put together their best drive of the night, eating up six minutes off the clock.

Unfortunately for the home team, the 44-yard drive was only good enough to get them just over midfield (the first time they reached Viking territory all game), but the drive stalled when a fourth-and-five pass fell incomplete.

On each of their first two second-half possessions the Colonels got three first downs, which was more then their first half total, but each drive would end disappointing with either a punt or turning it over on downs.

The Colonels didn’t have a turnover until their last drive of the game, and the desperation attempt to avoid the shutout resulted in an interception allowing Valley to run out the clock.

“Anytime you get a win we’ll take that over anything,” said Valley coach Daniel McGrath. “I think with it being our first game we were able to figure some things out. Our guys did a great job of picking some things up, we went back to fundamentals and I think we did a good job of execution. All around we’ve got a great group of kids.”

Wood starting quarterback Cam Butler led the way for the Colonels, completing 13 passes for 113 yards before leaving the game late due to an undisclosed injury. He was replaced by junior Brady Hepner.

Colin Benner had three catches for 41 yards and Dakota Orndorff three catches for 33 yards for the Colonels. Cordani led the way for the Vikings, rushing 23 times for 84 yards and two touchdowns. Malsch had two catches for 87 yards.