Defense, special teams lead Colonels to win over Wildcats

FRONT ROYAL — James Wood's defense and special teams led the Colonels to a 21-0 high school football win over Warren County in both teams' season opener on Friday.

In what proved to be a defensive struggle for most of the night, the Colonels parlayed seven sacks, two fumble recoveries, a blocked punt and tackles for losses on two other punts to stymie the Wildcats, who failed to win a season opener for the ninth straight year.

"The defense played really good," James Wood coach Todd Wilson said. "The offense struggled to get anything going, and [the defense] stepped up really big for us.

"Early in the season when you have a good defense that's going to help you out. It took us a while for our offense to jell and get things moving, so our defense really bailed us out a couple of times. It was a team effort."

The Colonels and Wildcats couldn't muster anything on offense in the first quarter that ended in a scoreless tie, but a blocked punt by Wood late in the first gave the Colonels a first-and-10 at the Warren 26.

"We knew we were going after it," Wilson said. "We saw on film that they struggled a little bit getting the ball back there. Sometimes it rolled, sometimes it floated on them, so we knew we were going after it. Special teams helped us out tremendously tonight."

Seven plays later, Dominick Ramirez bulled in from the 3-yard line with 11:08 left in the second quarter to put the Colonels on the board. After an offside penalty against Warren on the conversion, Ramirez added the two-point run for an 8-0 lead.

"We had problems all over the place. It wasn't just special teams," Warren County coach Josh Breeden said. "It starts with the coaches. We didn't have them ready to go this week and it starts with me. I'm at the top. The kids played hard all night and I let them down."

James Wood tacked on a pair of field goals in the third quarter to take a 14-0 lead. Aiden Bell connected from 32 and 41 yards out.

"He was booting through the uprights much further than that in practice yesterday," Wilson said. "So we had all the confidence in the world to put him out there, and he did phenomenal."

The Wildcats put together a nice drive to begin the fourth quarter, making it all the way down to the Colonels' 5 with a first-and-goal.

Much of the yardage came from a pass interference call and with the switch of senior running back Gavin Dodson to taking the direct snaps out of the shotgun.

Dodson connected on a couple of passes and scrambled for yardage to put the Wildcats at the doorstep of the end zone.

But a holding call against Warren and back-to-back sacks and a fumble recovery by the Colonels' Jordyn Sweetser ended the Wildcats threat.

James Wood marched 54 yards in six plays as Jeremiah Hodel scampered in from 7 yards out.

"We rotated in a lot of running backs and played some freshmen," Wilson said. "We are happy with the win."

For Warren County, Breeden says he will have to reevaluate things, hinting at a possible move to Dodson taking more direct snaps at quarterback.

"He's pretty adept at scrambling if he has too and it's something we talked about all summer," Breeden said. "He has a lot of skill. He can do a lot of things. He's special. So we have to put him a position to be successful. That's a good opportunity for him. We'll see what we got moving forward."