Colonels hope to break through against Fauquier

WINCHESTER — On Oct. 20, 2017, the James Wood football team had a chance to improve on its 2016 win total of two when it traveled to Warrenton to take on 1-6 Fauquier.

The Colonels went back to Frederick County stinging from a 38-8 defeat. James Wood committed five turnovers, had 88 total yards and did not pick up a single first down through three quarters. The Colonels went on to finish with two wins for the second straight year.

At 7 p.m. tonight, James Wood will again take on Fauquier, this time at Kelican Stadium in the school’s Homecoming game. At 2-5 overall (0-3 Class 4 Northwestern District), the Colonels are again searching for their third win.

Fauquier (0-7, 0-3) would seem to offer a pretty good shot at that, but James Wood coach Ryan Morgan said it will definitely take a strong performance for his team to beat the Falcons. Fauquier has lost three games by seven points and three other games against teams that are all currently in playoff position in Region 4C. The Falcons lost 42-23 last week to a Courtland team that’s 5-2.

“Hopefully overconfidence is not an issue, because [Fauquier was] 1-6 last year before they put it on us,” Morgan said.

James Wood is coming off a 60-32 loss to Millbrook, but the Colonels were able to build some momentum this week with their performance in the second half against the Pioneers.

After falling behind 46-6 less than three minutes into the second half, James Wood ran off 20 unanswered points as part of a 26-14 run. The Colonels finished the game with 456 yards.

“We knew we were going to struggle a little bit with Millbrook’s offense, but we thought we could make some big plays with our offense and move the ball,” Morgan said. “The first half was a little bit frustrating in that we weren’t able to put more points on the board, and we made some mistakes as far as turning the ball over.

“But we talked to the kids at halftime about not quitting, and they came out and didn’t quit. To force [Millbrook] to regroup a little bit after we put some points on the board, I thought that was a good thing. Hopefully, we can carry that over into this week.”

Fauquier’s triple-option offense is led by quarterback J.T. Diehl and running back DeAndre Chavis.