Skyline Routs James Wood, 42-14

Posted: October 18, 2014
By ROBERT NIEDZWIECKI
The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — A failed first-andgoal opportunity. A failed fourth-down stop in their opponent’s territory. An almost-catch by the sideline. A catch by their opponent inches inside the sideline for a touchdown.

Had a few plays gone a little differently, the James Wood football team might have a chance against Skyline. But the Hawks’ ability to make all the crucial plays — and most of the ones in between — turned a potential battle into a whopping advantage in their favor.

Skyline won its third straight game and stayed perfect in the Northwestern District with a 42-14 win over James Wood in the Colonels’ homecoming game Friday night at Jerry L. Kelican Stadium.

“There were a lot of things that happened in that game,” James Wood coach Mark McHale said. “But the bottom line is that we couldn’t stop the run.”

James Wood (3-5, 0-2 Northwestern) actually finished with more rushing yards than Skyline (220 to 211), but the Hawks (6-2, 2-0) used the run to pick up some crucial first downs and also set up their passing game.

With quarterback Corban Ruch leading the way by completing 23 of 28 passes for 212 yards and three touchdowns and rushing for 70 yards and two touchdowns, Skyline kept James Wood on its toes all night. The Hawks needed everything in their arsenal to go 99 yards in nine plays for their first touchdown and 97 yards on 15 plays for their second.

“They got a great push against our defense, and that’s what helped them out,” said James Wood senior linebacker and running back Tyler Bishop (118 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries). “And they got it to their fast, quick guys like we knew they were going to do.”

Skyline coach Heath Gilbert couldn’t have been more pleased. Ruch was able to hurt the Colonels with read-option, and he spread the ball around to six different receivers with a mix of short, intermediate and long passes.

“Passing game was doing a really nice job, and protection was holding up and giving guys time to get open, and we were able to run the ball well tonight,” Gilbert said. “I’m really proud of those guys.”

Heading into the second quarter, James Wood — which managed to hold Skyline without points despite two fumbles in its own territory in the opening quarter — had Skyline on its heels with its own running game though. Down 7-0, a 32-yard Bishop run to the Skyline 5 had the Colonels in prime position to draw even or take the lead.

But after Bishop ran the ball to the 1 on second down, the Hawks stopped him for no gain on third down and a 2-yard loss on fourth down to take over.

Skyline then drove 97 yards — with Jerrius Baltimore (98 yards and a touchdown) running for seven yards on a direct snap on fourth-and-2 from the Hawks’ own 25 — and took a 14-0 lead on Baltimore’s 1-yard touchdown run with 4:30 left in the second quarter.

“When you give up a drive like that, it’s just bad,” Bishop said. “When that happens, your confidence goes down.”

A flurry of activity just before the half gave Skyline all the confidence it would need to finish the Colonels off.

On James Wood’s ensuing drive, Colonels fans roared when it appeared that Bishop made a sliding catch near the sideline in Hawks’ territory for a first down, but the official ruled he hadn’t completed the act of the catch before the ball came loose.

Had James Wood made a first down there, even if the Colonels didn’t score they likely could have at least wound the clock down enough to prevent the Hawks from having a realistic chance at getting more points.

Instead, Skyline took over at its own 42 after the punt and drove to the James Wood 23. Ruch then rolled to the left and hit Jamal Parker in the left side of the end zone, with Parker (three catches for 108 yards and two touchdowns) just getting a toe down before going out of bounds with 1:12 left.

The Colonels then fumbled Skyline’s ensuing short kickoff, and on the next play Ruch hit a wide-open Brandon Wells down the middle of the field for a 38-yard touchdown with 51 seconds left in the half, and suddenly, James Wood was down 28-0.

“That was huge,” Ruch said. “That was just great for our team to get two quick scores, and that gave us big momentum going into halftime.”

The Colonels would not get closer than 22 points in the second half.

McHale said the Colonels were definitely up for Friday’s game, but playing catch-up the whole night hurt their cause.

“I thought we could run it on them, but the game got out of hand,” McHale said. “Punching it in on the goal line might have changed things a little bit. But we weren’t going to be able to stop their running game, and their bubble screens gave us some problems.”

It’s a game that McHale would probably prefer to play again, but now he wants his team to put this one behind him and focus on Millbrook next week.

“[We] didn’t expect this,” McHale said. “It’s a shame for our kids, because they worked hard for this game and were excited for this game.”

Brady Hepner passed for 72 yards (including a 12-yard touchdown pass to Reid Barber) and rushed for 48 yards for the Colonels.

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