STEPHENS CITY — One week after Sherando surpassed its win total from 2023 in a win over Warren County, James Wood will look to surpass its win standard from last year when it visits the Warriors at Arrowhead Stadium on Friday.
Both the Warriors (6-0, 1-0 Class 4 Northwestern District) and James Wood (4-2, 0-1) are coming off victorious performances. Sherando defeated Warren County 51-0, while the Colonels snapped a two-game losing streak with a 22-19 win over Meridian.
Sherando shut out James Wood 41-0 last year in a game in which Micah Carlson completed 17 of 20 passes for 279 yards and four touchdowns and ran for a score and 38 yards. The Warriors finished with a 472-147 yard edge in improving to 30-4 against the Colonels.
Last year’s victory over James Wood was the third and final shutout of the season for the Warriors, who lost their last four games after that defeat. Even before recording its second shutout of the season last week against Warren County in which it gave up only 15 yards and had two defensive touchdowns, Sherando had already established that this year’s defense has grown a lot from last year.
Sherando is giving up an area-low 128.3 yards and 6.8 points per game this year. Through six contests last year, the Warriors were giving up 276 yards and 16 points per game.
“We’re pretty consistent with what we do defensively.” said Sherando coach T.J. Rohrbaugh in a phone interview on Monday. “I think our guys have done a pretty good job of knowing their assignments, and lining up and doing their job, play in and play out.”
Sherando returned eight starters, including six All-District selections, from last year, and is in its second year working under Rohrbaugh and defensive coordinator Nick Manual. Experience and film study is making a difference.
“Offensively, teams are doing things against us that they haven’t shown on film,” Rohrbaugh said. “But we fall back to our base defense and knowing our assignments, and then we can make adjustments off of it.”
Sherando’s statistical leaders are linebackers James Walters (47 tackles, two interceptions) and Breiden Lowery (44 tackles), defensive ends Kaleb Nowlin (25 tackles, 5.5 sacks) and Ben Taylor (20.5 tackles, five sacks), and cornerbacks Donovan Blackwell (20 tackles, three interceptions) and Reth Puller (19 tackles, three interceptions).
On a team with 13 players in double-digit tackles, basically, everyone is getting the job done.
“Our defense is really predicated on everybody doing a specific job on each and every play,” Rohbaugh said. “I don’t think there’s any star of our defense. I think what we have is a collection of guys who have been locked in and doing their job individually, which makes the defense very effective.
“All it takes is one breakdown defensively, and one guy not doing his job, and we can be in some trouble. But we’ve had a group of guys that have been going out there and executing their responsibility on a consistent basis, which I think is a winning formula.”
The Warriors will take on a James Wood offense that has had to get creative in its approach at times due to injuries.
Last week, running back Kobe Mason (61 carries, 376 yards, two TDs) missed his second game of the year, and quarterback Owen Neal (56 of 99 for 815 yards, two TDs, seven interceptions) carried the ball 14 times for 123 yards and two TDs. Dominik Ramirez carried the ball eight times for 57 yards and one TD after not getting a a carry since Week 2 against Brentsville as a way to keep him healthy for defense. James Wood coach Todd Wilson said in a phone interview on Monday that he was hopeful Mason would play this week.
“Last year as a freshman, [Neal] was much smaller than what he is now,” Wilson said. “He plays sports year-round, and he doesn’t skip the weight room. He takes care of his body, he’s getting bigger and stronger, and kind of our gameplan [this year] was to give him more opportunities to run the ball. He’s shown he can do that the last two weeks.”
Neal leads the area in passing yards, with Xavier Price (16 catches, 279 yards) and Xander Manzo (eight catches, 245 yards, two TDs) his main targets.
Against Sherando, Wilson said the Colonels need to sustain drives, and score touchdowns if they get in the red zone.
“[Sherando] makes people make mistakes,” said Wilson, whose team had crucial turnovers in losses to Kettle Run and Handley this year. “We can’t give them a short field to go. It’s got to be a field position game. If we can’t score, we at least need to be able to move the ball, flip the field and keep them backed up a little bit.”
The Colonels had their second-best performance of their year in terms of yards allowed against Meridian, with the Mustangs gaining 253 yards. Miguel Padilla had 10 tackles to earn James Wood’s Defensive Player of the Game honors and he now has 28 tackles for the season. Smith said he played defensive end and outside linebacker for the Colonels last year, and now he’s being tasked with helping out Vincent Salvati (area-best 64 tackles this year) at inside linebacker. He played that position as well as outside linebacker and defensive tackle against Meridian.
“He’s a smart kid,” Wilson said. “He studies the playbook, he studies the scouting report, and those types of things are really standing out right now.”
The Colonels will be tasked with this week with trying to limit a Sherando offense that is averaging an area-best 386.2 and 39.5 points per game.
Carlson has completed 50 of 73 passes for 551 yards, six TDs (three last week) and six interceptions and ran for 502 yards and 10 TDs on 57 carries. Mason McKee has rushed for 319 yards and three TDs on 64 carries and Aiden Leatch (15 catches for 202 yards and three TDs) leads the area in receiving TDs. The Colonels are also led on defense by Ramirez (38 tackles, three sacks) and Jordyn Sweetser (31 tackles, five sacks).
“We’ve got to try and slow the running game down a little bit,” Wilson said. “They haven’t had to pass the ball a ton. It’s not that they can’t, but when you look at film they’re usually in the lead handily, and there’s no reason to throw the ball in those situations.”
Rohrbaugh said the Warriors definitely want to win the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. On offense, Rohrbaugh hopes that leads to consistency.
“We can’t turn the ball over,” Rohrbaugh said. “We can’t have penalties that puts you off script or off schedule.
“We read everything. We read linebackers. We read defensive ends. We have options on every single one of our plays that we run, and I think that’s helped us keep teams a little bit off balance.”
James Wood (4-2, 0-1) at Sherando (6-0, 1-0) When: Friday, 7 p.m. Where: Sherando High School’s Arrowhead Stadium Series history: Sherando leads 30-4 Last week: James Wood defeated Meridian 22-19; Sherando defeated Warren County 51-0. Players to watch: James Wood — LB/HB Vincent Salvati; QB Owen Neal; OL/DL Jordyn Sweetser; RB/DL Dominik Ramirez; WR/DB Xavier Price. Sherando — QB Micah Carlson; RB Mason McKee; WR/DB Aiden Leatch; WR/DB Tucker LaFever; LB James Walters; DL Kaleb Nowlin.
— Contact Robert Niedzwiecki at
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Follow on X @WinStarSports1
