Football vs Sherando

Posted: October 15, 2013
By GREG BRILL
Special to The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — A field made slick and muddy from four days of rain simplified Sherando’s game plan at James Wood on Monday night.

And that was just fine with Warriors senior fullback George Aston.

“The field was just all slop pretty much, so we just got in our heavy-set and took it to them,” said Aston after he rushed for a game-high 121 yards (all in the first half) and three touchdowns in Sherando’s 41-6 Northwestern District romp at Wood’s Kelican Stadium.

Sherando (6-1, 1-0 district) was held without a first down on its opening offense series, but scored on its last five possessions of the first half to head to the break up 35-0.

Aston did not run with the first unit on the opening series, but he had all five carries in a 66-yard drive on the following series.

From the 33, Aston swept right, shook off arm tackles at the 30 and 10 and powered into the end zone to send the Warriors up 6-0 with 5:52 left in the first quarter.

“I bounced out there at first and it didn’t look like I had much [room to run], but I broke one tackle, slowed down a little bit to let my blockers get in front of me and followed them to the end zone,” Aston said.

It was power football the entire way in a first half that saw senior quarterback Reid Entsminger, who set a school single-game mark for touchdown passes in a win at Liberty last week, not make a pass until less than five minutes were left in the first half and only six attempts (completing five for 70 yards and a score) in one half of action.

Sherando had a net of 197 yards rushing by the half and finished up with 260 on 48 carries (5.4 per carry), despite the Warriors giving their first-team skill position players the second half off.

The Warriors would score on five straight drives to end the first half, covering 66, 67, 48, 50, and 63 yards.

Ranked No. 1 in Class 4A North heading into the game and with a huge district matchup looming on Saturday at home with 4A North No. 8 Handley (4-2, 0-0), Sherando came out and took care of business in the first 24 minutes to tuck the outcome away.

“It was more just situational football tonight,” said Sherando coach Bill Hall. “We thought we had an advantage up front. We wanted to see what different formations they presented and they were just really loose with coverage and stuff, so we just decided that we were going to run it.

“The kids did a good job responding to the situation and the game plan that evolved real quickly and I thought they did a good job of taking care of the job they needed to do.”

The Warriors weren’t without another workman-like effort from their swarming defensive front.

Short-handed already without the services of senior quarterback Cam Butler (who was on the sidelines in street clothes after getting injured in their last game at Broadway), the Colonels (0-7, 0-1) stubbed their toes early with three false-start penalties within their first two offensive series.

James Wood mustered just two first downs and 48 total yards in the first two quarters, besides facing a 35-point deficit.

“We had too many penalties,” said Colonels coach Mark McHale. “It’s a game of field position. They started too close to [the] 50 because, offensively, we started backing up on penalties.

“I told the team that they’re the best football team we’ve played and to play with that team, you can’t have penalties. And we had too many penalties.”

A strong rush and keeping their assignments parlayed a big game for Sherando’s defense.

“We just try and bring the hammer every play,” said senior linebacker Daniel Eppard, who was in on five tackles, including two for loss. “If you just unload on them and trust that everyone else will do that, it takes that extra stress of second-guessing off.

“You just fly around. We had a few more check [offs], just in case we needed that. But we just do what [defensive] coach [T.J.] Rohrbaugh says. He wants to line us up, let us loose, and allow us to play football.”

If only James Wood could have had as much success on its side of the defense.

After Aston opened the scoring, Sherando had another all-run drive, going nine plays, covering 67 yards, to get a 9-yard scoring run up the middle from Aston on the last play of the first quarter to lead 12-0.

The big play in the drive was a personal foul penalty on the Colonels for a horse-collar tackle after junior Leequan Johnson had a gain of 10.

Three more touchdowns came for the Warriors in the second quarter.

Starting from the James Wood 48, Entsminger hit junior Adam Whitacre with a slant for a gain of 24 on first down, then got eight more on a dump to senior Brandon Litten.

Johnson carried for seven yards to the 9 for first and goal, and Johnson (58 yards on 10 carries) bounced left, broke an arm tackle, and got to the end zone.

A roughing the kicker penalty on the Colonels allowed the Warriors to go for two points, and Aston carried it in for a 20-0 lead with 8:53 left in the second quarter.

A rare penalty on the Warriors erased a 72-yard punt return for a touchdown by Whitacre, but he would score from scrimmage on the drive that started after Sherando started from the 50.

After three plays got the ball to the 24, Entsminger looked for Whitacre in the left flat. His pass just went over the hands of a James Wood linebacker and into Whitacre’s hands. It was an easy trip to the end zone from there, and the Warriors again converted the two-point conversion (Litton won a race to the corner) for a 28-0 lead with 4:24 left.

Another three-and-out (James Wood had one first down in the second quarter) gave the Warriors one more shot to score a touchdown in the final 2:27 of the half.

A 63-yard drive followed, with the last 60 coming on the ground. Aston picked up 21 on a bounce outside, then went for 13 more on a carry up the middle to the Colonels 13.

Johnson gained 12 for first and goal and Aston got his third touchdown two plays later, with just 15 seconds left, for a 35-0 lead.

Sherando controlled the first nine minutes of the second half with their second-team skill players executing behind the first-team line, but was stopped on downs at the James Wood 31.

The Colonels finally got on the board in the fourth, with senior Brady Hepner going in from the 1 with 7:27 left.

Sherando backup Chris Morgan completed the scoring when he scored from the 8 on fourth down with 3:54 left to play.

All told, Sherando finished with 330 yards and 16 first downs to 138 yards and seven first downs for James Wood, which had its Homecoming spoiled.

“I was really proud of our guys,” Hall said. “I think it would be very easy to overlook [James Wood, with Handley coming up] and I think that shows some maturity on our guys part.

“This was all about James Wood, and they handled adversity real well playing on a Monday night [the game had been postponed from Friday]. It’s a different schedule and we just focus on what we can control.”

Now with a losing streak that has stretched to 16 since winning at Heritage to begin the 2012 season, the Colonels probably feel like they still have a solid shot at Skyline (3-4, 0-1) on Friday against another team that has struggled of late.

“Our kids have already asked ‘Can we still be in it for the district [title],’” McHale said. “Our team is getting better even though the score [might not] show it. We just got to keep lining it up and play hard.”