Football Preview: James Wood at Park View

When: Today, 7 p.m.

Where: Park View High School.

Records: James Wood Colonels (0-1); Park View Patriots
(1-0)

Last week: James Wood lost to Heritage 34-7; Park View beat Manassas Park 30-12.

Last year: James Wood won
32-20.

Players to watch: James Wood — QB/DB Dade Carroll, FB/DE Isaac Schrantz, TE/DB Noah Sullivan, RB/LB Ryan Rupp, TE/DE Sam Costin, OG/DT Dominic Revetta; Park View — RB Niko Hopkins, MLB/WR Caleb Donofrio, FB/DT Ken Coopwood, OL Adonay Cruz, FB Kevin Lopez.

Preview: This looks to be the type of game that James Wood coach Mark McHale, a former offensive line coach/offensive coordinator who coached at Southern Miss, South Carolina, Marshall, Louisville and Florida State during his 40 year collegiate coaching career, lives for.

The Colonels bring a power-running offense against a Park View team that utilizes the single wing.

On paper, this one looks to be an old-school, smashmouth matchup.

"They’re big and they’re going to run that ball and try to wear you out," McHale said. "It’s going to be my kind of football game — a running team versus a running team. We just can’t turn the ball over and have penalties, and we’ll have a chance."

Those two issues, turnovers (two fumbles, two interceptions) and penalties (eight for 50 yards), hurt the Colonels in last week’s season-opening loss. The penalties kept Wood in second-and-long and third-and-long situations much of the game.

"It will be who makes the least mistakes," McHale said. "If you’re a big running team and you jump offsides, that is not in your favor. We have to keep our penalties to a minimum, and we can’t turn the ball over. I believe we’ll win the game if we have zero turnovers and don’t have [too many] penalties."

While Heritage featured more of a vertical passing game, McHale’s defense must handle the Patriots’ single wing that put up 30 points, helping Park View (2-8 last year) snap a seven-game losing skid.

It’s the Patriots’ home opener, so McHale knows his team must be ready to match Park View’s energy.

"They’ve got a big fullback that they lead up there with the isolation play," McHale said. "They’ve got a lot of their players back. They got a win [last week] and we didn’t, so that’s big for high school kids’ confidence."

McHale, who noted defensive tackle Dominic Revetta (eight tackles, three for loss) and linebacker Noah Sullivan (six tackles, one for loss) really played well on defense last week, said his team must contain Park View’s fullback-driven ground attack.

"We can’t let them get a head start in the hole and then block down and kick out. We have to plug the gaps pretty fast," McHale said. "They don’t have the speed that Heritage has, but they have the power."

— Compiled by Robert Stocks