James Wood gets first district win of season

WARRENTON — James Wood’s Elijah Richards says he and teammate Lane Overbaugh have a little healthy competition.

Since the two have begun splitting time as the featured running back in the Colonels’ offense, they look to outdo each other.

On Friday, both had pretty strong nights and played a key part in what proved to be the game-winning score as James Wood topped the Falcons 28-21 for their first Class 4 Northwestern District football win of the season.

Richards and Overbaugh combined for 169 yards on 27 carries and Richards ran for two scores as the Colonels (2-6, 1-3) turned away the winless Falcons (0-8, 0-4). Jared Neal added a pair of touchdown passes in the triumph.

Since becoming the lead tandem four weeks into the season, Richards (88 carries, 442 yards) and Overbaugh (57 carries, 349 yards) have become a 1-2 punch for the Colonels’ offense. Richards said the two feed off of each other.

“I think it’s like a competition,” said Richards. “If he gets a big one, then I want to get one. We go back-and-forth and we keep on going and pushing. I think it’s really good.”

The Colonels, who led 15-0 at the half, looked to have things seemingly wrapped up after Neal found a wide-open Casey Floyd for a 48-yard TD pass with 10:55 left in the final quarter. Eli Miller, Neal’s favorite target this season, ran a clearing route that the Falcons’ safeties bit on, leaving Floyd all alone to catch his first TD pass of the season. Hunter Barnhart’s extra point made it 22-7.

But just 15 seconds later, the Falcons were back to within a score of tying the game. David Mayfield, who had a long kickoff return in the first half, took this one back all of the way 95 yards to make it 22-14.

Taking over at their own 21 with 10:38 left, the Colonels then made what proved to be the game-winning drive. Andrew Link took a short pass and broke a tackle for a 37-yard gain on the first play, but from there the drive stalled. Back to punt, Barnhart got a hand on a high snap, tacked the ball down and punted, but a Falcon player ran into him.

To the dismay of Fauquier coach Karl Buckwalter, a 15-yard personal foul penalty was called and the Colonels were awarded a first down. After a James Wood holding penalty and a carry for no gain, Overbaugh bolted 22 and 18 yards on consecutive carries to give the Colonels first-and-goal from the 5. On third down, Richards bolted up the middle for a four-yard score. Due to an issue with Barnhart’s equipment, the Colonels had to go for two and missed, giving them a 28-14 lead with 4:08 left.

“We try it punch it through and try to loosen up the middle so we can get in the end zone,” Richards said of the TD run. “The line did great pushing up and made holes for me.”

The Falcons didn’t go away quietly from there. Nowland was 4-for-4 in a 51-yard drive, including a 39-yard strike to Carter Halsey, who broke a tackle and scored with 2:22 left.

The Falcons then stubbed the ensuing onside kick with the ball only traveling about half of the required 10 yards. Richards then cracked off carries of 6 and 11 yards and the Colonels kneeled on three consecutive plays to run out the clock.

“It was back-and-forth,” James Wood coach Ryan Morgan said of the contest. “We thought we were pulling away a little bit and they made some big plays. [Fauquier is] a good football team. They have got some athletes. … They did not look like an 0-7 football team.”

Fauquier did at the start. On the opening kickoff, the Falcons had miscommunication and did not field the ball and James Wood’s Chris Morrison recovered at the Fauquier 13.

While the Colonels did not score on their first two possessions, they were able to keep the Falcons pinned deep. After a fine punt return by Miller to the 18, the Colonels were able to get on the board. Richard took care of those yards, running 13 yards on first down, then sweeping left for a five-yard TD. Jordan Sweetser ran in the two-point conversion to make it 8-0 with 2:43 left in the first quarter.

James Wood’s defense, led by Zach Smith, dominated the first half and came up with a big play to help the Colonels extend the lead before the half.

After a Colonels drive came up a yard short on fourth-and-2 from the Fauquier 22, James Wood forced a fumble and Smith recovered at the 21 with 46.3 seconds left before the half.

Neal’s key 10-yard scamper out of bounds gave the Colonels first-and-goal at the 8 with 12.8 seconds left. On the next play, Neal found Morrison on a slant which was his first touchdown catch of the season. Barnhart’s extra point made it 15-0 at the half.

“That was big,” Morgan said of the late score before the half. “We were doing OK, but we weren’t punching it in. I thought the defense played really well, especially in the first half. We should have been up by more. We had a couple of short fields, but we weren’t able to punch it in.”

Smith was seemingly in on about every other tackle in the first half.

“We blitzed a lot this game,” said Smith, who also partially blocked a punt in the first half. “I felt that was a thing that helped us with the run game.”

Morgan said that Smith, who had an area-leading 94 tackles coming into the game, wasn’t able to practice fully this past week.

“He got a little bit dinged up last game,” Morgan said. “This week he took it easy, but he’s really good at taking mental reps. He’s out there and paying attention. He’s studying and watching film. Even though he had to sit out a couple of days of practice, he was ready to go.”

Neal went 10 for 21 for 108 yards and the 2 TDs and did not have an interception. He had multiple passes dropped.

Morgan praised Neal in the team huddle after the game.

“He just made good decisions,” Morgan said of Neal’s play. “It was nice to see him have a bounce-back week. He’s had a couple of tough weeks.”

Richards had 88 yards on 18 carries and Overbaugh had 81 on nine carries as the Colonels amassed 163 yards on the ground.

Nowland finished 12 of 18 for 142 yards, including a 23-yard TD screen pass to Mason Hamilton for a score in the third quarter.

The Colonels were ecstatic to get the triumph, especially heading into next week’s clash against Millbrook.

“It’s the momentum,” Smith said. “I felt everybody on the sideline … we were all together. We had a few mistakes, but what team is not going to have a few mistakes? Everybody contributed to this win.”

“This is huge,” Morgan added. “Mathematically it keeps us alive in the playoff race, but also allows you to feel a little bit better about yourselves. We haven’t played well on the road. … Just having the momentum going into the last two weeks, hopefully it will give the kids a little pep in their step this week.”

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