Colonels upset Raiders in regional quarters

By Ben Brooks -- This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

WINCHESTER -- Those expecting James Wood High School to apologize for its Region II Division 4 football playoff appearance this season are in for a long wait.

The Colonels, who squeezed into this year's expanded Group AA postseason despite losing four of their last five regular-season games, showed Saturday afternoon that once the playoffs begin, the slates are indeed wiped clean.

Senior Brock Lockhart ran for 266 yards and scored three touchdowns, and the Colonels survived Loudoun County's late rally to take a thrilling 27-25 first-round victory at the Handley Bowl.

The victory moves sixth-seeded James Wood into the regional semifinals against No. 2 seed and Frederick County rival Sherando on Friday night in Stephens City.

With heavy rains last week leaving the Raiders' field in Leesburg a muddy mess, Loudoun County made the decision to move the game to Handley's synthetic turf field. The Colonels used their longtime rival's newly renovated stadium to make a little history of their own. Saturday's victory over the third-seeded Raiders (8-3) was Wood's first playoff win since the 1970 state championship season. "We've come up a little short the past few weeks," said Colonels coach Mike Bolin, who has guided James Wood to the playoffs in each of his first two seasons as head coach. "But we kept battling, and we knew we'd get a victory eventually."

Getting back to basics was the key. The Colonels used their powerful running attack (299 rushing yards) to score 20 third-quarter points and take a 27-18 lead late in the period. Running primarily off tackle, Lockhart scored on touchdown runs of 85 and 12 yards in the period. Fullback Ryan Abdelhalim added the eventual game-winner on an 8-yard run, his first touchdown of the season.

"We had that fire today," said Lockhart, who carried the ball 34 times and is now 106 yards shy of 2,000 this season. "The offensive linemen just took it upon themselves to get the job done. They kept going and never stopped."

Loudoun County's potent passing attack, led by quarterback Austin Campbell, was just as effective moving the football. In a classic case of "whatever you can do, I can do better," the Raiders (440-325 total yards advantage) stormed back each time the Colonels (7-4) created breathing room. And when Loudoun County marched 75 yards in the game's final 1:40, it was James Wood's sideline and the Colonels' overflowing contingent of fans on the visitor's side who held their collective breath.

When Calle Brown's 32-yard field goal sailed wide left as time expired, the Colonels finally let out a sigh of relief that was loud enough to be heard all the way back to the Ridge Campus and seemed to encompass an entire second half of the season that saw them go from Northwestern District contenders to barely sneaking into the playoffs.

"I was sitting in the stands when he made the 42-yarder to beat Sherando earlier this season," Bolin said of Brown, who earlier in Saturday's game made a 25-yarder and missed a 39-yard attempt. "I remember thinking, 'That's going to be a weapon for them.'"

James Wood junior defensive tackle Chase Tyler got a small piece of the kick, only not exactly the way he planned.

"I jumped as high as I could," Tyler said. "I would like to say I got it with my hand, but it actually hit off my helmet. I guess a hit's a hit. This feels so amazing. It's indescribable."

Though shredded at times by Campbell (21-of-33 for 239 yards) and the Raiders' short passing attack, James Wood's defense held Loudoun County without a score twice in the game's final five minutes.

Following Mike Howard's 10-yard touchdown run that brought the Raiders to within 27-25, Loudoun County got the ball back and drove down to the Colonels' 34. But consecutive pass breakups by Joel McGreevy and Mark Bean on third and fourth downs gave the ball back to Wood with 4:48 left to play. The Colonels ran three minutes off the clock but stalled at Loudoun County's 42 and punted with 1:40 remaining.

Five straight Campbell completions took the Raiders down to James Wood's 27, dangerously close to Brown's range. Campbell's next throw sailed high and into the waiting hands of James Wood safety Harlan Robinson. But the senior two-way player dropped the sure interception at the goal line, giving the Raiders new life. Three more plays got Loudoun County to the Colonels' 15, where they lined up for the potential winning kick.

"I thought I was going to have to live with that the rest of my life," Robinson said. "But my teammates came up to me afterward and really picked me up."

"You don't want to criticize a teammate," Wood linebacker and leading tackler Devin Stonier said. "He's such a great player and takes the game so seriously. We just all got around him and said, 'We're going to make a play for you.'"

Loudoun County's Todd Hill, who returned to the home sidelines he used to patrol when he coached at Handley, never doubted his team's ability to rally, even when it faced two-score deficits in the second half.

"Even with three minutes to go, I felt like if we could get a stop we'd be able to move the ball downfield," Hill said. "We had good pass protection all day long, we threw it well and our receivers made great adjustments in their routes."

As for the Colonels, Hill said they looked like a different team than he scouted a week earlier on the same field in an 18-10 loss to Handley.

"Last week, they tried to do a lot of things out wide," Hill said. "I think it was more of them getting back to James Wood style of football, lots of off-tackle, traps, and leads. They did what they had to do."

The Raiders scored on the game's first series. Tailback Kevin Fitts (163 yards on 21 carries) capped a five-play, 54-yard drive with a 10-yard touchdown run. A pass from Campbell to Jack Reimers for the two-point conversion gave Loudoun County an 8-0 lead.

The Colonels responded with a 19-play, 80-yard march that culminated with Lockhart bursting up the middle untouched from 3 yards out. Brown's field goal with 3:37 left in the second quarter sent the Raiders to the locker room with an 11-7 lead.

The game turned early in the third quarter. When the Raiders failed to capitalize on a Lockhart fumble deep inside Colonels territory, Wood's 6-foot-1, 180-pound senior made them pay. On Wood's first play after stopping Loudoun County on downs, Lockhart burst through the line, nearly stumbled as he broke a tackle, and raced 85 yards down the right sideline for the go-ahead touchdown.

Four minutes later, Tripp Lewis' interception and return set the Colonels up at Loudoun County's 40. Five plays later, Lockhart's third touchdown run gave Wood a two-score advantage.

"This is the culmination of a lot of hard work," Robinson said. "It's been thirty something years since we won a playoff game. It was amazing."