Defense fuels James Wood's first win of season

HAGERSTOWN, Md. — James Wood linebacker Zach Smith spent so much time in the North Hagerstown backfield on Saturday that the Hubs should have made room for him in the huddle.

Smith had four sacks and was also in on several of the Colonels’ 15 tackles for losses as James Wood notched its first win of the season with a 22-6 triumph at Mike Callas Stadium.

Jared Neal tossed two touchdown passes and Elijah Richards ran for 114 yards and a score as the Colonels improved to 1-4.

The James Wood defense held North Hagerstown (2-3) to 160 total yards with 72 of those coming on the Hubs’ final play against the Colonels’ reserves.

Smith and his fellow linebackers blitzed repeatedly throughout the contest, often arriving at North Hagerstown quarterback Luke Kercheval nearly as fast as the snap.

“It felt good and it felt good giving our offense good field position,” Smith said of the defensive effort. “The three-and-outs, they all really felt good. I felt like we kept pushing them back with the tackles-for-losses. I felt like we all came together and had a great attitude.”

Smith said that making plays behind the line of scrimmage becomes contagious.

“Everybody wants a piece of it,” he said. “Everybody loves it.”

“Our defensive coaching staff came up with a great plan,” James Wood coach Ryan Morgan said. “The kids played with great intensity and once they got a little taste of making some stops in the backfield and forcing some punts, like Zach said it is kind of contagious and the kids feed off of each other. … That’s kind of fun when the kids smell blood in the water a little bit.”

The contest was scoreless through one quarter before the Colonels, who were penalized 14 times, finally took advantage of the good field position they were receiving.

The Hubs lost nine yards in a three-and-out and Matt Dueweke partially blocked a punt as the Colonels took over om the North Hagerstown 39. On fourth-and-5, Neal tossed a 24-yard strike to Eli Miller to set up first-and-goal from the 10.

On third down from the 9, Neal and wideout Michael Jackson improvised. Not seeing options open, Neal rolled left and found Jackson at the back of the end zone.

“I tried to make my first read and it wasn’t there,” Neal explained. “They did a little something different than what we expected. Michael Jackson did a good job going deeper than everyone else.”

“It was a good adjustment by Mike because he’s supposed to run a different route,” Morgan added. “When he saw Jared roll out, he made a nice adjustment.”

Eli Miller’s conversion pass to Andrew Link gave the Colonels an 8-0 lead with 8:57 left in the quarter.

Later in the quarter, Smith sacked Kercheval on third down forcing another punt and the Colonels took over at their 44 with 2:45 remaining. After two running plays netted a first down, Neal completed two passes to Miller to set up a first down at the 28.

On the next play, Neal dropped a perfect pass over the top to sophomore Justin Gwinner, who held on after taking a shot from the Hubs’ safety after the catch. Hunter Barnhart’s extra point made the score 15-0 with 1:14 left in the half.

“On that one, the offensive line gave me like six or seven seconds to throw,” Neal said of the touchdown. “They gave me so much time to throw and I got to make my read from the right all of the way back to the left. He was wide open.”

Aided by a James Wood personal foul and 28-yard pass completion, North Hagerstown had a shot at scoring before the half, driving to the Colonels’ 20. Two sacks ended the chance, with Smith recording the final one.

“He did a good job of timing up hive blitzes really well,” Morgan said of Smith. “He’s one of if not our surest tackler because he is so strong. Once he gets his clamps on people, it’s hard to pull away. He did a really good job and the entire defense played well all day.”

Another North Hagerstown punt miscue led to James Wood’s final score. From the 17, punter Mac Stiffler’s low kick hit his linemen. An unsportsmanlike penalty gave James Wood the ball at the 6 and Richards bolted up the middle to make it 22-0.

The score stayed that way until the Colonels brought in their reserves and Kercheval connected with Ryder Johnston for a 72-yard TD with 2:11 left.

Neal finished 10 for 17 for 152 yards and had a couple of passes dropped in the windy, misty conditions.

“He threw the ball as well today as he has all season,” Morgan said. “He just put the ball right on the money.”

Morgan was concerned by the penalties, which went for 130 yards against the Colonels. “We had way too many penalties,” he said. “We’ll have to try to figure out what those are. I didn’t feel like we were as undisciplined as the stats are going to show. We can’t do that against the teams we are facing down the road.”

Heading into next week’s Homecoming Game against Jefferson (W.Va.), the Colonels are happy to have broken the four-game skid to start the season.

“It was a big sigh of relief,” Smith said.

“It feels good, but hopefully we can keep it going and get more than just one,” Neal said.

— Contact Walt Moody at
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