James Wood to host Sherando in district matchup

James Wood head coach Todd Wilson was an assistant coach on the football staff in 2021 when the Colonels knocked off Sherando once in the spring (with the season delayed by COVID) and again in the fall.

Those victories snapped a 13-game losing streak against the Warriors, who had won many of those games by lopsided scores. Last fall, James Wood was on the receiving end of a 54-8 decision which was more reminiscent of Sherando’s 29-4 edge in the series.

As the teams square off again at 7 p.m. on Friday at Kelican Stadium, Wilson is hoping that his program (3-3, 0-1 Class 4 Northwestern District) can start challenging and beating Sherando and the other area Class 4 schools.

“You can’t just expect to do it every now and then,” Wilson said of the Colonels’ recent wins over the Warriors. “We want these games to be as competitive as possible. We obviously want them to end in our favor more often than not.

“It’s great for the community,” he added. “When you get all four of these teams playing at a high level, there’s a lot of buzz around the community in Frederick County and Winchester when Millbrook, ourselves, Handley and Sherando are all playing really good football. … That’s what we’re trying to build here at James Wood — to go into games against those programs and not only be competitive, but to come out victorious.”

Wilson knows it won’t be easy against the Warriors (4-2, 1-0), who are in the midst of a three-game winning streak in which they’ve outscored their opponents 113-13.

Offensively, Sherando is led by quarterback Micah Carlson, running back Christian Ruiz and receiver Brady Hamilton who are thriving behind a big offensive line that is led by Division I recruit Ethan Gonzalez.

Ruiz has been a consistent threat, rushing for 601 yards and nine touchdowns on 109 carries.

“He runs the ball really hard,” Wilson said. “He doesn’t do anything super flashy. He’s just a hard-nosed runner. He runs with a low pad level and we’re going to have to wrap and squeeze to bring him down.”

Hamilton is averaging more than 28 yards for his 18 catches and has scored six TDs.

“He is extremely fast,” Wilson said. “You get him out in space and he’s going to be hard to tackle. If you give him too much space, you’re not going to get close enough to tackle him. He has some top-end speed.”

Carlson is 81 of 133 for 1,152 yards and 11 scores. He has completed passes to 10 different players.

“He does a great job running their offense,” Wilson said. “It feels like he’s been there a long time. … He didn’t run quite as much in the past, but he’s added that to his game a little bit. He can throw the ball, but if you give him the opportunity to scramble he’ll beat you with his legs as well.”

The Colonels will counter with a defense led by linebacker Zach Smith, the area’s tackle leader at 80.

“He’s a phenomenal football player,” Sherando coach T.J. Rohrbaugh said of Smith. “You have to account for him and know where he’s at at all times. If you don’t get a hat on him, he’s going to make a play.”

Rohrbaugh says he’s wary of the Colonels in general.

“They’re a very good football team and well coached,” he said when asked to assess James Wood. “They’re big up front, so they’re physical. Those guys up front get off the ball on both sides. That’s going to present a challenge for us. They’ve got good skill guys and their quarterback (Owen Neal) is a freshman and keeps getting better every week.”

When the Colonels have been able to get their running game going they’ve been able to put some points on the board.

Coming into the season, Elijah Richards figured to do some damage and has with 706 yards. But, Richards has gotten some help in the backfield lately from two new faces — Kobe Mason and Dominik Ramirez.

Mason had a 45-yard TD run last week, added a 39-yard burst and topped 100 yards.

“Kobe Mason did an outstanding job Friday night,” Wilson said. “He was our offensive MVP. … He’s done a really good job of stepping up. We were concerned with our depth at running back when Lane Overbaugh was lost for the season [with an injury]. We were really thinking we were going to have that 1-2 punch with Elijah and Lane back there. … Kobe Mason has really stepped up big, both as a student in the classroom and as a student of the football field as well.”

And Ramirez, a quarterback candidate before the start of the season, has been the battering ram in the Colonels’ heavy set.

“We knew he was athletic and we wanted to get the ball in his hands in some way,” Wilson said of the sophomore. “He was able to run the ball and threw from out of that heavy set as well on Friday night.”

Rohrbaugh said the Colonels have the talent to test his defense, which has blanked two of its last three opponents. The Warriors are led by brothers Jamaal Nowlin and Kaleb Nowlin, who have combined for 16 sacks and 62 tackles from their defensive end spots. Kaleb Nowlin did not play last week.

“They’ve definitely gotten better,” Rohrbaugh said of the Colonels. “That’s the goal of every team. They have got that heavy package and a spread package. They’ll do anything from five-wide to a single-wing look. It’s one of those things that presents a challenge for you. You’ve got to be ready to defend spread and you have to be ready to defend that single-wing package.”

Both teams are coming off of wins last week, but both coaches would have liked a cleaner performance. Sherando won 40-13 against Warren County, while the Colonels came back to dump Meridian 28-16.

“I thought we played hard,” Rohrbaugh said of his team’s effort. “Play-in and play-out, we executed well, but we just had too many mistakes between the penalties and turnovers. We were fortunate to win that game with as many mistakes as we made. Those are things we have to clean up. We’re not going to keep getting away winning games if we keep making those mistakes.”

“We started off slow, but I was proud of how we faced adversity,” said Wilson, whose team fell behind early. “We faced some adversity a few times early in the year and didn’t do so well with that. Friday night, we faced adversity early on and we never wavered. Our kids never got scared or started panicking. They stayed the course and I think that showed some maturity.”

Eliminating errors is a focus for the Warriors on Friday.

“I want to come out and see our guys play with a lot of effort and clean up the mistakes,” Rohrbaugh said. “Play assignment football both offensively and defensively, play great on special teams and stay after it for four quarters.”

Wilson is looking to prevent big plays and make the Warriors drive the ball.

“Our defense has kind of carried us at times this year,” he said. “Offensively, we’ve had some bright spots running the ball the past couple of weeks and the week before against Handley Owen did a nice job of throwing the ball.

“We’re going to try to do what we’ve been doing all year and take what the defense gives us. If we’re picking up yardage and we are doing a good job blocking up front, we’re going to stick to the run game. If the pass game is open for us, we’re going to let Owen throw it around 20 or 30 times.”

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