Nicknamed for a horror movie character, James Wood senior Cody Vorous ready for Colonels’ Friday the 13th playoff game

By Robert Niedzwiecki
The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — While shrouded in darkness at the end of Tuesday night’s practice, James Wood High School football coach Mike Bolin delivered a stirring speech that stoked competitive fire within each of his players.

Though he got a strong vocal reaction after it, he might have generated an even louder one when he asked for one of his senior defensive ends to come over to him.

“Voorhees!,” players yelled in unison. “Yeah! Voorhees!”

In the movies, the last place you’d want to be after dark is on a field with someone named Voorhees — the last name of Jason, the silent, hockey-mask wearing assassin of the “Friday the 13th” series. As opponents have been discovering in going against Cody “Voorhees” Vorous on a weekly basis, the same theory is applying to real life, too.

Coming into the season, Bolin didn’t know what to expect out of Vorous, who hadn’t played defensive end since middle school and whose contributions to the varsity as a junior were minimal. But with the Colonels preparing to take on Loudoun County in Friday’s Region II Division 4 quarterfinals, Bolin couldn’t imagine how this season would have gone without him.

Vorous is tied for second on the team with 64 tackles and ranks second on James Wood with 2 1/2 sacks. He has nine tackles for loss, and he’s forced two fumbles, recovered one, and blocked a punt.

“He’s been real huge for us, because we lost two real good ends last year in Jared Broughear and Ben Pattyson,” Bolin said. “We were unsure who was going to step up, and we put a lot of guys in those spots. Cody was the one who was always solid, always making plays.”

Though Vorous certainly talks more than Jason Voorhees, Bolin says Vorous is the team’s quietest player. (Vorous’ nickname was created when several people failed to pronounce his last name as “vor-us,” with “vor-hees” being the variation of it that stuck.)

Vorous might be a man of few words, but not when it comes to a decision that haunted him almost from the moment he made it.

Throughout his life, Vorous has had two passions — football and baseball. But at the end of his freshman year, he decided the time had come to give all his time and energy to baseball, and he elected not to play football his sophomore year.

It wasn’t worth it.

“It’s the biggest regret I have in my high school career,” Vorous said. “As soon as summer practice rolled around, I knew it was a dumb choice on my part. I couldn’t stand not being on the field.”

Because so many of his friends played football, Vorous said he was essentially “alone.” As a sophomore, Vorous wouldn’t have been a big part of what was taking place on the field on game nights, but at least he could have said he played football the year James Wood advanced to the playoffs for the first time in 27 years.

He missed out on that, as well as a valuable year of experience. Playing as an outside linebacker, most of Vorous’ time as a junior came on the JV team, and he made just two tackles for the varsity.

Bolin noted the good things Vorous was doing for the JV, but what really caught his eye was the manner in which he attacked the team’s off-season weightlifting program. Though the 6-foot-1, 190-pound Vorous is only listed as being 10 pounds heavier on this year’s roster than he was last year, Bolin said he looks much bigger and has turned himself into one of the team’s strongest players.

As a result, his name came up often when the coaching staff discussed personnel over the summer. Though James Wood considered playing him at both outside linebacker and defensive end, there was no doubt in Vorous’ mind that end, a position he hadn’t played exclusively since middle school, was where he wanted to be. He had a much better chance of playing time that way.

“Two spots were opening up,” he said. “I just wanted to play, so I was willing to step up and learn a new position.”

Vorous entered summer practice third on the depth chart, but it took just three or four practices for the Colonels to realize he had the potential to be James Wood’s best defensive end once he became comfortable with the system — and he has been.

“He’s a little different than the guys we had last year,” Bolin said. “Jared was a real good pass rusher who put a lot of pressure on the passer. Cody’s a good pass rusher, but he’s real good at stopping the run, which has been real helpful. He’s very fundamental and solid and does what you ask him to do on every play.”

Vorous has made a few particularly memorable ones, too.

On Oct. 2, he had a hit on Blake Alexander as the Brentsville quarterback released the ball, enabling Brock Lockhart to return an interception 27 yards for a touchdown, with the aid of a Vorous block.

A week earlier, Vorous blocked a punt against Warren County that allowed James Wood — which led the Wildcats by just six at the half — to take over at the Warren County 14 and go up three touchdowns two plays later.

With that ability for creating those big moments, it’s no wonder teammates brightened at the mere mention of his name Tuesday. When senior defensive tackle Cody Winstead was asked to describe Vorous’ development, he was all smiles.

“This guy?” said Winstead before reaching over to pat Vorous on the shoulder. “Let me tell you about this guy. He’s improved a lot and he’s become well-rounded. He makes big plays, especially when we need them.”

Bolin said Vorous is never going to make a big deal out of those big plays — a fist pump might be as animated as he gets — but as Jason Voorhees has proved on the big screen, sometimes it’s the quiet types who prove to be the deadliest.

“It just feels good to be able to start, be able to contribute, and make plays,” Vorous said. “I just want to help our team out.”

 

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