By Robert Stocks
The Winchester Star

Winchester — When Millbrook sophomore defensive back Boomer Kaczmarzewski saw James Wood line up with three wide receivers on the left on 4th-and-4 at the Pioneers’ 21, he felt certain the Colonels’ play was going away from him.

But Kaczmarzewski stayed alert, launching himself in front of wide receiver Matt Copley to swat away the pass from Trae Tinsman and end the Colonels’ final threat with 1:04 remaining.

From there, Millbrook ran out the clock on its biggest win of the season, a 10-7 Northwestern District victory over Frederick County rival James Wood on a rain-soaked field at Jerry L. Kelican Stadium Friday night.

“I just thought I was going to be watching, and all of the sudden [Tinsman] was rolling out and it was right on me,” Kaczmarzewski said. “He threw it and I just dove and knocked it down. They needed four yards on the last play on fourth down, and we stopped them.”

The Pioneers (5-3, 1-1 Northwestern) held James Wood to just one touchdown, and Colonels senior running back Brock Lockhart didn’t eclipse the 100-yard mark until the fourth quarter.

“I can’t say enough about our kids — what a way to fight,” Millbrook coach Reed Prosser said. “James Wood is a great football team and we were just kind of able to bend but don’t break all night.”

Another Pioneer who didn’t bend under the pressure was senior kicker Michael Venegas.

In the first minute of the fourth quarter, Millbrook had a nine-play drive stall on 4th-and-goal at the James Wood 6, and Prosser sent Venegas out for the field goal.

A delay of game penalty turned a 22-yard chip shot into a 27-yard attempt.

Venegas booted it through, but Colonels coach Mike Bolin called timeout before the snap to put a little extra pressure on the Pioneers’ first-year kicker.

Bolin’s freeze attempt didn’t work, as Venegas calmly booted the kick through the uprights on his second attempt to give the Pioneers a 10-7 lead with 11:05 left.

“I was kind of nervous, and I was kind of confused about what was going on ’cause I didn’t expect [the timeout], but I finished it,” Venegas said. “It feels good. It was a game-winner.”

James Wood was forced to punt after its ensuing drive stalled on the Colonel 48, and the Pioneers took over at their own 7 after a 45-yard punt by Tinsman.

Pinned deep in their own territory, running back Jordan Hartman gave Millbrook some breathing room, breaking free for 34 yards — his longest gain of the night — and a first down at the Pioneer 41.

Five plays later, the Pioneers’ drive stalled at the 48, and Kaczmarzewki’s punt pinned the Colonels at the 8-yard line with 5:42 left to play.

James Wood senior Brandon Shiley hauled in a 17-yard pass from Tinsman, and then he broke free for a 16-yard run to give the Colonels a first down at the Millbrook 28.

But three plays later, on 4th-and-4, Kaczmarzewski swatted away James Wood’s final hopes.

“It was trips to the left, and we were running some over-the-middle stuff and it had been successful earlier in the night so we knew we would get passing windows,” Bolin said.

“They just played it well. I think they knew it was coming. Matt Copley did a great job — he broke the route off and tried to get open. [Kaczmarzewski] made a really nice play and batted the ball down. It was a play we practice every day, but it just didn’t work.”

Nothing seemed to go as planned for the Colonels Friday night.

On the opening kickoff, James Wood deliberately kicked short because of the wet field conditions, but Millbrook junior running back Drew Braithwaite took the ball at his own 29-yard line and raced 60 yards to the James Wood 11.

Three plays later, Hartman (97 yards on 21 carries) scored from five yards out to give the Pioneers a 7-0 lead with 10:33 left in the opening quarter.

“Drew Braithwaite did a great job,” Prosser said. “We knew they were going to pooch it so we set up a little middle return. We told our guys, ‘When you get it — take it straight up the chute cause if you make a guy miss you’ve got a chance to get out the door.’

“Soon as we got it down in the red zone, 1-2-3 boom — we’re in.”

The Colonels (6-2, 1-2) fumbled six times, turning the ball over on three of those. Tinsman, who went 10 of 22 for 99 yards, also threw an interception for the first time this year.

“When you turn the ball over you’re not going to win games and that’s what happened,” said Bolin, whose team only had four turnovers in its first seven games. “The turnovers really hurt us, and we got in the red zone early three times and didn’t come away with anything.”

And a lot of credit goes to the Pioneer defense. Millbrook held James Wood under 300 yards (295) of total offense for the first time all season.

Lockhart rushed for 108 yards on 28 carries, including a five-yard touchdown run that tied the game 7-7 with 6:40 left in the third quarter.

He entered the game averaging 191.7 yards per game but never broke free for big chunks of yardage. The Pioneers focused on the Colonels’ north-south ground game and limited Lockhart’s biggest gain to just 11 yards.

“We had a big problem with stopping Brock, but our D-line gave us a great push and everyone just filled in,” senior linebacker Bryon Tavers said. “We’re just happy to come out with the win. We picked it up on defense.”

“I thought our interior line did a wonderful job,” added Prosser. “We tried to take away the big play. We wanted to see if we could win first down and get them off schedule and just try to make a big play.”

On Friday night, all of those big plays came from the Pioneers.

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