Colonels’ Confidence Higher Heading Into Sherando Matchup

Posted: October 10, 2014
By ROBERT NIEDZWIECKI
The Winchester Star

STEPHENS CITY — A lot of things seemed to be working against the James Wood football team last week against Broadway.

Though the Colonels only lost 17-15 to Fauquier on Sept. 26, they were outgained by 180 yards. And now they were being asked to rebound without two-way lineman Jesus Correa and quarterback/safety Brady Hepner because of injuries against a team on a three-game winning streak.

If it wasn’t already obvious that this is a different James Wood team than in past years, the Colonels screamed it loud and clear with their 21-14 win against Broadway, a game that saw James Wood gain 333 yards without throwing a single pass while holding the Gobblers to 107 total yards.

“We’re pretty proud of what we did,” said James Wood senior wide receiver and cornerback Nick Manuel (area-best six interceptions, 12 catches for 254 yards and two touchdowns). “Defense we did pretty well, shutting them down. Our main focus was that if we could outrush them with Dade [Carroll] in at quarterback, a sophomore, that would be huge. That was a confidence boost.”

And as a result, James Wood might be ready to inject some life back into a rivalry that’s taken a decidedly lopsided turn the past two years.

The Colonels (3-3) travel to take on Sherando (4-2) at 7 p.m. at Arrowhead Stadium tonight in the Northwestern District opener for both teams.

A series that saw seven of eight meetings (including two in the playoffs) decided by seven points or less between 2006 and 2011 has seen Sherando win the last two contests by a combined 91-20, including 41-6 last year. The Warriors have outscored James Wood 65-0 in the first half of those games.

Even without the memory of those games, James Wood coach Mark McHale said his team doesn’t have to be told that Sherando — which is playing a game a week after a loss for just the third time in its past 23 games as a result of last week’s 28-14 defeat to Liberty — presents a much greater challenge than it’s faced in the past weeks.

The main thing is that the Colonels are doing a better job of preparing themselves to play in these types of games by seeing what they needed to improve on and doing something about it.

“We had some goal-line stands [against Fauquier], but Fauquier ran the ball on us,” McHale said. “The biggest thing we had to improve on was the running game. Broadway had 61 yards rushing. They were every bit as good as Fauquier. They won three games in a row, they put 36 on Millbrook [in a 39-36 loss]. They were flying high.”

And the Colonels are flying high because they’ve shown what they can do several times this year without key players At this time last year, the 0-6 Colonels were still trying to figure out how to just put one complete game together.

“This year I think there’s a lot more confidence going into Sherando,” said James Wood junior linebacker Ryan Funkhouser (team-high 65 tackles). “We’re not the same football team that we were last year, and I think it should be a pretty good game.”

Before Sherando — ranked seventh in the VHSL 4A North Region power ratings compared to No. 18 for James Wood — could think about delivering a strong performance tonight, the Warriors had to think about having a strong week of practice. The team expressed Friday night that they were disappointed in how they prepared for the game against Liberty.

“But this week, we’ve come out, and we’ve really gone hard,” Sherando senior center Christian Farris said. “We’ve really improved. We’ve had people in different spots, but they’ve all stepped up, they’ve all done really well, and responded to adversity.”

Yes, the Warriors are well-versed in the “next man up” mentality this season. One of the latest setbacks for the Warriors was having to play last week without free safety and wide receiver Rhett Morris because of an upper body injury.

But you need look no further than the performance of the offensive line to see how well Sherando has embraced “next man up.”

Farris is the only returning starter from last year, and despite turning to more people than they’ve expected to because of injuries they’ve made their presence felt.

Against a Liberty defense that only surrendered six points in its first three games, Sherando running back LeeQuan Johnson (area-best 627 yards and 10 TDs this year) rushed for 143 yards and a touchdown on 34 carries while quarterback Pat Minteer (53 of 86 for 920 yards, 11 TDs, 1 INT) completed 14 of 19 passes for 176 yards and a TD in wet conditions. Farris said he’s proud of the job the line has done.

“We’ve had a lot of people not able to play this year [at several spots], which some people look at as a negative,” Sherando coach Bill Hall said. “We look at it like if someone’s not playing, the next man’s up, and it’s someone’s opportunity for them to contribute and get better. It makes us deeper whenever other people are playing.

“The situations are what they are in terms of who’s playing and not playing, and we just look at it as, ‘What’s the blessing in this, what can we accomplish in this.’ People are getting experience, and they work hard all year for opportunities like this so when they have an opportunity, they take advantage of it.”

Naturally, the task for both teams this week will be trying to keep the other from getting too comfortable in the running game. James Wood’s Travis Bishop (654 total yards and 7 total TDs), rushed for 263 yards last week, 77 more yards than he had all season coming into the game.

“When you don’t pass the ball one time, that says a lot about how they stayed ahead of the chains,” said Hall of James Wood’s game against Broadway. “They’ve done a good job with [Hepner] as a runner, a dual-threat guy, so we have to be ready for that.”

Hepner’s mobility (127 yards and 2 TDs on the ground to go with 568 yards passing) will be important in going up against a Sherando defense that struggled to contain Liberty quarterback Aaron Walters last week (314 rush yards), though to the Warriors’ credit some in-game adjustments seemed to have everyone on the same page after halftime.

“Field position is going to be big for us,” McHale said. “If we give them a short field like we did Fauquier, Sherando’s got the ability to run the score up on us. If we do well in the field position game, I feel like our offense can move the ball.

“The players know Sherando played for a state championship last year, and they know they’re not much different than they were last year. They know their losses have come to two really good football teams. We’ve got to play the upset role. We’ve got to play good football, have fun and go out there and play.”

And as always, improve.

“In our heads, we have no memory of losing last week,” Farris said. “All we know is that we need to step up our game, and compete every day.”

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