Wood needs win, but Judges not taking their finale lightly

By David Selig
The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — As he always does on Tuesday evenings, Dwight Carpenter, Handley’s unofficial director of football operations, wheeled his cooler of freeze pops onto the field as the Judges wrapped up practice.

It didn’t matter in the slightest bit that it was windy and chilly and far from the ideal weather for a frozen treat.

“I don’t care if it’s 50-below,” Carpenter said. “These have been coming for 10 weeks, and they’re gonna keep coming if we keep winning.”

That was just one of many signs that this week is business as usual for the Judges (9-0, 3-0), even though they guaranteed at least a share of the Northwestern District title last Friday.

“You only get so many James Wood games,” Handley quarterback Geremi Long said after a spirited practice Tuesday. “That’s one of the games that’s always going to be in your memories.”

And that’s one of the reasons Saturday’s 1 p.m. game against the rival Colonels (6-3, 1-2) is so dangerous. Not only does James Wood need a win to help its playoff chances, the Colonels would like nothing more than to finish a disappointing second half of the season with a statement win. “We’ve been tested mentally and physically the last couple weeks, and we didn’t get the results that we wanted,” James Wood coach Mike Bolin said. “But this is the type of game where you forget all of that. ...

“If we can somehow win this football game on Saturday, all this other stuff that has happened, we can forget about it and we can get ready to go to the playoffs. We’re going to do everything that we can do to have that happen.”

Bolin said his team has had arguably its best week of practice all season, which is a particularly good sign after the Colonels dropped a heartbreaking non-district game 34-31 in double overtime last Friday against Fauquier.

That followed a gut-wrenching 10-7 loss to rival Millbrook the week prior.

But, as Bolin said, the Colonels can wipe the slate clean and start fresh with a third-straight trip to the postseason if they win Saturday.

There’s a possibility they could still qualify for the Region II Division 4 field with a loss, but they don’t intend to leave it to chance.

“We’re just going all out,” James Wood senior center Stephen Spence said. “We know that this is probably the last chance for a lot of our seniors to be playing, and we just want to keep going on this season and make up for the losses that we shouldn’t have.”

That mental readiness is important for James Wood, but the game will come down to the Colonels’ ability to limit their mistakes.

Wood has turned the ball over a total of five times in its past two games, and while that doesn’t sound like a huge number, it’s one more than the Colonels had in each of their seven previous games.

If the Wood can control the ball and create seams for Brock Lockhart — who had a season-low 68 yards on 15 carries last week — the Judges expect to face quite a challenge defensively.

“We told our kids it’s the best team that we’ve seen — especially on offense, they do everything well,” Handley coach Tony Rayburn said. “We haven’t seen a team that throws and runs as well as them all year.”

Rayburn said his star tailback, Jeremiah Wilson, will miss the fourth straight game with a left knee injury. To this point, that hasn’t fazed the Judges, who have gotten 100.3 rushing yards per game from Delroy McDaniel over the past three.

More than anything else, it’s that ability to find a way to find a way to win in adverse situations that’s separated Handley from its local competition the past two years.

“They’re the best team around. They’re the top dog,” Bolin said. “They’re a little different than us. They’ve responded every time they’ve been tested. When their backs are against the wall, they come out swinging. We’ve got to get their backs against the wall and hold our ground, which other teams haven’t been able to do.

“They’re 9-0 for a reason.”

By the same token, James Wood is 6-3 for a reason. But in a game with their season on the line and their oldest rival standing across the line of scrimmage, the Colonels relish the chance to prove they can compete with the best team around.

“They’ve had some tough breaks,” Rayburn said. “They’re 6-3, but they could easily be 9-0. And they’re going to be at their absolute best on Saturday.”

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