Wood Edged Out By Fauquier, 21-20

Posted: September 28, 2013
By KEVIN TRUDGEON
The Winchester Star

WARRENTON — Through four games this season it had been the big things that had hurt the James Wood football team. Big plays. Big turnovers. Big losses.

On Friday night it was the little things that ended up costing the Colonels a chance at their first win.

Playing without head coach Mark McHale for the final three quarters and going up against a physical Fauquier team, James Wood turned in its best performance of the season in a 21-20 loss.

The Colonels (0-5) outgained the Falcons in the game (311 total yards to 297) and held a 20-14 lead early in the fourth quarter following a 10-yard pass from quarterback Cam Butler to wide receiver Dakota Orndorff, but they could not make it hold up.

With Fauquier (3-2) facing a fourth-and-5 on the James Wood 25, Falcons quarterback Louis Heisler (9 for 12 for 72 yards, eight rushes for 49 yards) found teammate Leif Heitzel for an 11-yard gain and three plays later Heisler ran it in from 10 yards out for what would prove to be the game-winning score.

“It’s a heartbreaker, especially after losing the games we’ve lost this year and with how a great a team [Fauquier] is. It hurts to see everybody else hurting, especially on the fourth-down play,” Butler said. “It’s those little things though. That play, the missed extra point, two missed field goals, a couple bad penalties. They hurt us.”

Also hurting the Colonels was the absence of their coach for the final 33 minutes of game action.

Following a 10-yard touchdown run by Fauquier’s Keion Lewis that tied the scored at 7-7 early in the second quarter, Butler scrambled out of the pocket on the first play of the ensuing drive and appeared to take a late hit as he went out of bounds in front of the James Wood sideline.

The Colonels were visibly upset over the lack of a call and a penalty flag was thrown for unsportsmanlike conduct. After a lengthy discussion between McHale and the head referee, three more flags were thrown, resulting in the James Wood coach’s early exit from the game and the team being pushed all the way back to its own 1-yard line.

“We thought there was a penalty that they didn’t call, a late hit on Cam after he was out of bounds, and then it went from zero to nuts real quick,” said assistant coach Josh Copp.

The game could have easily gotten away from the Colonels at that point, but instead it seemed to energize them.

Facing second-and-30 from his own end zone, Butler (13 for 26 for 230 yards, two touchdowns) audibled out of a run play and lofted a deep pass down the left sideline to Orndorff, who out-jumped a Falcon defender for a 58-yard gain.

Five plays later Butler found junior Nick Manuel (six catches for 105 yards) on a fade pattern to the back-left corner of the end zone for a 13-yard score.

“We wanted to come out and throw the ball,” Butler said. “My receivers caught the ball fantastically tonight, the offensive line blocked great and we made some plays.”

A play they didn’t make, though, was the extra point following Manuel’s touchdown catch. Will Spears’ PAT was blocked, leaving the Colonels with a 13-7 lead heading into halftime.

Coming out in the second half Fauquier, which missed a 41-yard field goal and turned the ball over on downs on two of its four possessions in the first half, took control quickly.

After stopping James Wood on fourth down deep in their own territory, the Falcons marched 68 yards on just five plays, with Lewis (eight carries for 72 yards) again capping things off with a 6-yard run around the left side to give his team its first lead of the game at 14-13.

The two teams would trade scores from there and, after Spears missed twice from 42 yards on field goals attempts and an illegal motion call negated a fumble recovery on a Colonel punt, the James Wood offense would have one last chance.

But facing a fourth-and-19 from his own 39-yard line, Butler’s heave in the direction of Orndorff was picked off by Fauquier’s Marcus Campbell, the Falcons’ third interception in the game, to seal the victory.

“All the credit in the world to them, they shocked us,” said Fauquier coach Jaime Carter. “They didn’t come out in anything that we practiced against, nothing they that they showed on film they ran at us tonight, and they had us on our heels. Luckily we were able to avert disaster.”

Butler finished with a team-high 44 yards on seven carries and sophomore Tyler Bishop added 22 yards on nine carries, including a 1-yard run on fourth-and-goal on the opening drive of the game. Fauquier running back Todd Jordan led all rushers with 94 yards on 19 carries.

Copp admitted that it was a wild game all the way around, but he was quick to praise the Colonels for their effort in the face of adversity.

“I can’t put into words how impressed I am with them right now,” Copp said. “I told the kids they should be upset because they lost, losing sucks. But they should not, at any point, hang their heads.

“I guarantee you that 80 or 90 percent of high school teams would have just been like, ‘Whelp, here we go,’ [after losing their head coach.] especially 0-4 teams. They could have just folded and they didn’t. They got stronger, they bonded and they played great. Yeah we’re 0-5, but these kids worked their butts off and they want a win. It hasn’t happened yet, but it’s going to happen.”

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