By Robert Niedzwiecki
The Winchester Star

Winchester — Dalton Boyd had no recollection of any James Wood player grabbing and spinning him near the 30-yard line on his fourth-quarter kickoff return Friday night.

“I really don’t know what happened,” the Sherando senior said. “I just kind of zoned out. It was everything I could do to get to the end zone.”

With the word “purpose” — the team motto developed by Sherando’s seniors — written on his wristbands, he accomplished his mission and gave the Warriors the momentum it needed to avenge last year’s last-second loss to the Colonels.

Boyd’s 94-yard kickoff return for a touchdown with 9:06 remaining in the fourth quarter lifted Sherando to a 21-17 victory in the Northwestern District opener for both teams before a packed, boisterous crowd at Jerry L. Kelican Stadium.

After losing to all three of their Winchester/Frederick County rivals last year, a chance to celebrate like the Warriors (5-1, 1-0 Northwestern District) did Friday was long overdue.

“It’s awesome,” said Sherando linemen Conor Recko, who was part of a defense that held James Wood to 173 rushing yards — 126 below its average — and did not permit a run longer than 17 yards. “Everybody worked so for hard for [this win].”

This edition of the series didn’t come down to the final 10 seconds like three of the past four meetings, but once again, little separated the two Frederick County powers.

As Boyd’s kickoff return demonstrated, though, Sherando had a huge advantage in special teams.

Boyd had a 43-yard kick return in the first half, and Kadeem Blackwood took the opening kickoff of the second half 41 yards to the Warriors’ 49. Five plays after that return, Boyd took a reverse pitch and scored from 19 yards to put Sherando up 14-10.

As Sherando coach Bill Hall said, the Warriors didn’t draw up Boyd’s kickoff return to go the way it did. But Sherando’s blocking allowed Boyd to run untouched until the one Colonel spun him. After Boyd broke that tackle, he veered inside before bouncing it back out.

“He’s a a special player,” Hall said. “We just have to find ways to get him the ball, whether it be offense or special teams.”

It was a huge blow to a James Wood team that had just taken a 17-14 lead on Trae Tinsman’s 4-yard touchdown run.

Earlier in the game the Colonels (5-1, 0-1) had no problem moving the ball after scores.

James Wood responded to Jalen Brisco’s 6-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter with an 80-yard touchdown drive, capped by a Brock Lockhart (25 carries, 103 yards) 2-yard run, to go up 10-7.

And while James Wood didn’t score after Boyd’s 19-yard run put Sherando up 14-10, the Colonels drove to the Warriors’ 10 before ending the drive with a missed field goal.

After James Wood took over at its own 33 after Boyd’s second touchdown, the Colonels marched to the Sherando 42 in three plays. But a holding call pushed James Wood back into its own territory, and James Wood was eventually forced to punt from its 48 after a sack.

After getting the ball back at its own 22 with 2:35 to play, Tinsman (14 of 27 for 185 yards) picked up 11 yards on first down, completed one pass for two yards, then threw three straight incompletions. His last pass, thrown left to the sideline, was well short of Brandon Shiley, and Tinsman could only stop and stare as the Warriors’ sideline exploded.

James Wood coach Mike Bolin said he was impressed with the Colonels’ ability to get 358 yards of offense against a defense like Sherando’s.

But outside of a 43-yard completion to Shiley, James Wood didn’t have many big gains. And despite possessing the ball for 15:14 in the second half, the Colonels couldn’t deliver on their first possession of the second half in the red zone, or at the end when they needed to.

“I think our kids did a great job persevering,” Hall said. “The defense was on the field a lot there in the second half. [Sherando] did a good keeping pressure on us, and we made the big stops when we needed to.”

Hall said a big key to slowing down James Wood’s running game was giving the Colonels different looks on the defensive front.

“I thought we did a good job of mixing up our fronts a little bit and doing some shifting up front,” Hall said. “It ultimately comes to winning their matchup, and I thought our guys took it upon themselves [to perform well], because they knew the pressure was going to be on the front.”

The Warriors didn’t let much disrupt their offense offense either. Behind Blackwood (13 carries for 88 yards) and Tre Porter (11 carries for 61 yards), Sherando didn’t miss a beat despite the absence of leading rusher Roger Smith, who was not in the stadium Friday. (Hall did not explain why and said the status of his availability will be evaluated on a week-to-week basis).

Porter came on after Blackwood began cramping up and had to leave the game.

Bolin said Sherando simply executed better than the Colonels did. Better tackling and Sherando’s ability to exploit a weakness in their kick coverage were just a couple of the areas in which Bolin felt the Warriors were superior.

“Whenever you lose, it hurts,” Bolin said. “But you move on. You fix the mistakes you can fix and you move on, and that’s what we’re going to do.”

The Warriors will also move on, but only after sufficiently celebrating Friday’s win.

“It was a [heck] of a game,” Boyd said. “It’s crazy to come out with a win this year. It feels really good. Probably one of the best ones I’ve ever been a part of.”

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