A victory for the ages

By David Selig
The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — There were so many times that the James Wood High School football team could have crumbled during Saturday afternoon’s Region II Division 4 quarterfinal against Loudoun County.

Like when the Raiders paraded straight to the end zone on the first drive of the game — and then stuck in a two-point conversion on a fake kick.

Or when Brock Lockhart fumbled the ball on the Wood 25 on the second play of the second half.

Or when Harlan Robinson dropped an interception that would have clinched the game in the final half-minute.

But a Colonels team that had endured a forgettable second half of the regular season proved that it never quit along the way.

James Wood went back to basics and pounded its way to the school’s first postseason win since 1970, a 27-25 victory at the Handley Bowl clinched when junior defensive lineman Chase Tyler’s helmet caught a piece of a 32-yard Calle Brown field goal attempt as time expired.

The sixth-seeded Colonels will face No. 2 Sherando Friday night at Arrowhead Stadium for a trip to the regional final.

“You know, we didn’t have the most successful [regular] season, but we never quit. The kids never quit,” James Wood coach Mike Bolin said. “We’d get down and get upset, because we played really bad in a couple games, and a lot of people lost faith. But the guys in this locker room, they never lost faith. ...

“We knew eventually we were going to come together and play a great game.”

To do that, Bolin had stressed the need for his team to return to its power running roots after losing four of the last five games of the regular season. And the Colonels (7-4) stuck to that plan.

Lockhart rushed 34 times for 266 yards and three touchdowns, his best output since piling up 302 yards in the season opener at Washington (W.Va.).

But there were still plenty of roadblocks.

Trailing 11-7, Lockhart fumbled on the second snap of the second half, giving Loudoun County the ball on the Wood 25 and forcing the Colonels’ defense to answer with a big play.

Three snaps later, the Raiders (8-3) faced a 4th-and-inches and lined up with a full backfield, suggesting a run. Quarterback Austin Campbell (21 of 33 for 239 yards) dropped back to throw, and as he unloaded, Wood linebacker Devin Stonier hit him square in the chest, forcing an incomplete pass and a turnover on downs.

The next play, Lockhart carried the ball off-right tackle for an 85-yard touchdown and a lead the Colonels would never relinquish.

Lockhart had gotten off-tackle a few times previously and been barely tripped up at the edge. But this time he kept his feet and made another defender miss on his journey up the right sideline.

Lockhart rushed for 202 of his yards in the second half, and he was helped by having fullback Ryan Abdelhalim back in the lineup. The senior missed six games after breaking his leg in the opener, and he didn’t return to the starting group until the regular season finale.

Abdelhalim helped seal off the Raiders’ defensive end to spring Lockhart’s long touchdown run, and he added an eight-yard touchdown of his own to put the Colonels ahead 27-18 with 1:45 left in the third quarter.

“When I scored that touchdown, that was just like gold to me,” Abdelhalim said. “To know that I helped win this game and [scored] the last points we needed, that’s the greatest feeling in the world.”

Abdelhalim’s score came in the midst of a back-and-forth dual between the teams’ offenses in the second half.

After Lockhart’s 85-yard run, Tripp Lewis intercepted Campbell to set up a 12-yard Lockhart scoring run. Loudoun County drove right back to score, but that touchdown was answered quickly by Abdelhalim’s.

The Raiders reached the end zone again on their next possession, pulling within two points with 9:56 remaining in the game.

That flurry of offense could have tempted the Colonels to take to the air, but they didn’t.

James Wood only attempted eight passes in the game, and with the offensive line holding off Loudoun County’s talented linebacking corps, the Colonels continued to have success.

“I think they became more basic. More power football, more straight ahead,” Loudoun County coach Todd Hill said. “It was more of them getting back into their James Wood-style football.”

Hill, a former Handley coach and athletic director, said the main reason for moving the Raiders’ home playoff game to the Judges’ new synthetic turf field was safety, as Loudoun’s field was a pit of mud from all the rain. But Hill also admitted he felt the turf would give his Raiders a better chance to utilize their potent passing attack than a sloppy field.

With Campbell finding six different receivers and running back Kevin Fitts adding 163 yards on the ground, Loudoun County never took the pressure off James Wood.

After a well-placed punt by Trae Tinsman, the Raiders took over at their own 10 with 1:40 remaining, trailing by two.

On eight straight passing plays, Campbell guided Loudoun County all the way to the James Wood 15.

The Colonels could have ended that threat earlier, but Robinson — who along with being a safety is one of James Wood’s most sure-handed receivers — dropped a would-be interception at the goal line.

“We all just got around him and said, ‘It’s not over. We’re going to pick you up.’” Stonier said. “‘ You’ve picked us up the entire game, so we’re going to make a play for you.”

Two plays after that, Campbell took the snap and knelt down in the center of the field to set up Brown, a University of Virginia soccer recruit who beat Sherando with a 42-yard kick in the final seconds Sept. 17.

The Colonels didn’t get much of a rush to block Brown’s 32-yard try, but a leaping Tyler’s gold helmet nicked the ball, which then fluttered wide left of the uprights standing before Handley’s front steps.

“I wish I could say it hit my hands,” Tyler said with a laugh. “But it hit my helmet.”

After going through the handshake line, the Colonels ran to the opposite end zone and collectively lied on the ground, just as they had done at Handley two years ago, when they helped lock up their first playoff berth since 1980 with a regular season win over the Judges.

“We didn’t get a win on this field the first time [last week against Handley], but we knew we wanted to lay down on that field and absolutely enjoy every minute of it,” Stonier said.

Like that 2007 season, the Colonels will play a postseason game at Sherando, which was the carrot Bolin dangled in the locker room at halftime.

“He said to keep our heads up, and how we have Sherando next week,” Lockhart said. “Don’t let that get out of your mind, but make sure you get this one first.”

The Colonels got this one, and at long last they got the playoff victory that had eluded them for 39 years since earning the Group AAA state championship with a win over William Fleming.

They also proved they’re a better team than the 1-3 Northwestern District record suggested, and one that now must be feared in the second season.

“Regardless of the outcome, we were very pleased with the way we played,” Bolin said. “We battled a real, real, real good football team ... and we were the ones that scored more points.”

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