James Wood rallies past Brentsville

WINCHESTER — For the second week in a row, James Wood’s defense and special teams played lights out and lifted the Colonels to a victory.

One week after shutting out Warren County, the Colonels’ defense held Brentsville to 255 yards of total offense, forced two turnovers and scored a touchdown, propelling James Wood to a 16-15 high school football victory over the Tigers in their home opener Friday night.

On a night when James Wood (2-0) honored and welcomed five new members into its P. Wendell Dick Athletic Hall of Fame, the Colonels gave many people a night they won't soon forget.

In a game filled with big plays, it was the Colonels’ special teams that came up with the most timely sequence.

With just 21 seconds remaining in the game, Brentsville lined up for what would have been a game-winning 37-yard field goal. However, like raging waters bursting through a dam, the Colonels’ three interior defensive linemen all busted through the line and blocked the kick to secure the lead and the victory.

"It was far from pretty, far from perfect," James Wood head coach Todd Wilson said. "I'm so proud of these guys. This just shows them that their hard work pays off.

"We had 60-70 guys come in for offseason workouts at times, and this program has never had that before. I said it last week, the defense played really good.”

Just moments before the blocked kick, Wood junior kicker Aidan Bell capped off a nine-play, 75-yard drive with a 22-yard field goal that gave Wood the lead with 4:56 left in the game.

The field goal was set up by junior receiver Xander Manzo, who had a 48-yard catch and run that got the Colonels into field goal range at the Tigers’ 17-yard line. It was Manzo's second big catch of the game.

On the last play of the third quarter, with the Colonels trailing 15-7, Manzo ran a go pattern down the far sideline when quarterback Owen Neal hit him in stride. The defender tripped Manzo up, but the junior kept his footing and raced 91 yards to the end zone. James Wood failed its two-point conversion attempt, but Manzo’s score set the Colonels up to only be trailing 15-13 heading into the fourth.

Though Neal and Wood looked Manzo’s way several times down the sidelines when he was one-on-one, it was the two catches that totaled 139 yards that everyone is going to remember.

"He told us he thought he could beat his guy, and we thought so too, so we did some things to get him into one-on-one matchups and Owen made a couple of really good throws,” Wilson said of Manzo.

Manzo couldn't have been happier about it.

"This is just a great feeling," Manzo said. "First home game, this is such a great atmosphere.”

After a scoreless first quarter it was the James Wood defense that broke the ice and got on the scoreboard.

Senior defensive lineman Jordyn Sweetser read a pitch play flawlessly. He broke through the offensive line and almost took the pitch from the Brentsville quarterback. Sweetser knocked the pitch away, tracked it down, scooped it up and raced 17 yards for the score and a 7-0 lead.

Just before the half, the Colonels were driving again, looking to add to their lead when disaster struck. With less than a minute left in the half, Brentsville’s Cayden Light intercepted Neal's pass and returned it all the way to the Colonels’ 40-yard line.

With 18 seconds left in the half, it took Brentsville (0-2) one play to get on the board. Quarterback Samuel Richards found Charles McCullough in the corner of the end zone for the score.

It looked as though Wood was going to hang onto the lead when the extra snap was mishandledl. But Richards got to his feet with the ball, scrambled and found Sawyer Beckman in the end zone for the 8-7 halftime lead.

Brentsville put together an 11-play, 57-yard drive on its first possession of the second half and took a 15-7 lead on Beckman's 13-yard run midway through the third quarter.

Junior running back Dominik Ramirez picked up 60 yards on 18 carries for the Colonels, and Neal completed 11 passes for 216 yards.

"Owen is just a sophomore. He's still young,” Wilson said. "He's going to make mistakes, but he doesn't let it get him down, and he made some really nice throws tonight.”

Aaron Patterson led the way for the Tigers, rushing 18 times for 67 yards. Richards completed 11 passes for 139 yards.

Next Friday night, the Colonels return to Warren County to take on Skyline.

The road doesn't get any easier for Brentsville, as it hosts Millbrook next Friday.