Sherando, James Wood sef for rematch

With 130 points in its last three games, James Wood’s offense is hotter than it’s ever been in terms of scoring — the most points for the Colonels in a three-game stretch in their 75-year history prior to this past month was 129 in 1969 under coach Walter Barr.

In order to keep its season going, the Colonels will have to figure out how to navigate a defense that poured a huge bucket of cold water on them in the last contest before their three-game winning streak started.

An extra dose of Frederick County high school football will take place on Friday night when seventh-seeded James Wood (7-3) travels to No. 2 Sherando (9-1) for a 7 p.m. Region 4D quarterfinal game on Friday at Arrowhead Stadium.

Friday will mark the fourth all-time meeting between the two schools in the playoffs, one more than the combined total of the other five Winchester-Frederick County series (Handley and Millbrook have met twice in the postseason; Sherando and Millbrook have played once). The Warriors have won all three meetings, winning tight games in 2007 (21-14) and 2009 (13-7) and recording a 48-0 blowout win in 2014.

This year’s Colonels have also felt the sting of a shutout to Sherando. The Warriors defeated James Wood 35-0 on Oct. 11, also at Arrowhead Stadium. Sherando outgained the Colonels 396-133 in that game.

After a scoreless first quarter, the Warriors scored 21 points in the second quarter to propel themselves to victory, including 14 points in the last 30 seconds in the first half. A roughing the holder penalty on a field goal attempt extended the drive that made it 14-0 (Micah Carlson passed to James Walters for a 14-yard touchdown). After James Wood fumbled the ensuing kickoff, Carlson had a 32-yard rushing touchdown with 16 seconds left in first half for a 21-0 lead. The Colonels can’t afford mistakes like those, or the high snap to quarterback Owen Neal that cost the team 22 yards on one play.

“[Sherando has] too good of a defense to help them out,” James Wood coach Todd Wilson said. “We can’t get in situations where we’re moving the ball, then get a holding penalty that stalls out a drive. We need to put drives together and finish drives with some points.”

James Wood will also need to do a better job of establishing the run after recording only 22 yards on 21 carries in that game.

The Colonels have made changes to their offensive line since that contest, and they’ve averaged 333 yards per game on the ground in their three-game winning streak, including 559 against Liberty. James Wood’s rushing attack is led by Kobe Mason (114 carries for 794 yards, 7.0 average, nine TDs) and Neal (111, 702, 6.3, 9).

Something else that should help the Colonels’ cause is that Neal (94 of 168 for 1,324 yards, six TDs and nine interceptions) will have his top two receivers to throw to on Friday after both missed the Sherando game with injuries. Xavier Price has 21 catches for 446 yards and two TDs and Xander Manzo has 15 catches for 341 yards and three TDs.

“[It helps] with the things we want to do with getting guys in motion, spreading things out and getting athletes out in space,” Wilson said. “Xander Manzo and Xavier Price are two of the better wide receivers in the area, and it definitely hurts when they weren’t on the field that game. Hopefully, they’ll be able to make an impact on Friday night.”

Outside of Kettle Run, no team has been able to walk away from a game with Sherando and feel great about how it did against the Warriors on offense this year. The Warriors are allowing only 9.9 points per game, have four shutouts and have held nine teams to 14 points or less.

A Sherando defensive line that features starters Kaleb Nowlin (65 tackles, 6.5 sacks) and Ben Taylor (36.5 tackles, five sacks) at the ends and Hunter Ratchford (43 tackles) and Andrew Taylor (39 tackles, three sacks) has been at the forefront of a defense that is allowing just 66.6 yards per game on the ground.

“They’ve all done a great job for us, setting the tone,” Warriors head coach T.J. Rohrbaugh said. “They’ve been playing with great technique. Coach [Trey] Blanford coaches those guys up and has done a great job of getting them prepared. Those guys will be big for us this week, and hopefully, they can execute like they have been.”

Walters (110 tackles, three interceptions, two total TDs in the Wood game) and Breiden Lowery (97) lead the Warriors in tackles, but fellow linebacker Pete Carter has made a rapid ascension after seeing his first extended time of the season in the first game against James Wood.

Rohrbaugh said Carter was injured on the first play of the first scrimmage. He missed the first four games and was slowly worked back in, playing a handful of snaps and making one tackle against Liberty in Week 5, and playing a couple of series and making four tackles against Warren County in Week 6. Beginning with James Wood, he’s made 41 tackles in the most recent four games and has 46 (30 solo, including six for a loss) this season.

“We expected big things from him coming into the season,” said Rohrbaugh, who had also been planning to use Carter as a running back this year prior to his injury. “He had a great offseason and was having a great camp. That set him back a little bit, but he’s done a great job of working his way back in there and kind of living up to what we thought he could be for us this year.”

Rohrbaugh said he’ll be looking for a disciplined performance from his defense this week.

“Communicate with each other out there on defense, make sure everybody is on the same page, and just do your job, play in and play out,” Rohrbaugh said.

Sherando’s run offense vs. James Wood’s run defense was also a major factor in last month’s Warrior win. Carlson rushed for 113 yards on eight carries and two scores to lead a 313-yard rushing effort.

Carlson has rushed for 808 yards on 104 carries (7.8 average) and 17 touchdowns in addition to completing 89 of 130 passes for 1,172 yards, 13 TDs (two against the Colonels) and six interceptions. The Warriors are averaging 36.2 points and 368.1 yards per game.

“We just line up and do what we do,” Rohrbaugh said. “We mix in the run and the pass, and we’ll just figure out what they’re trying to take away from us and counteract that with what we think gives us the best opportunity to move the ball.”

James Wood is allowing 28.2 points and 320.7 yards per game. The Colonels’ defense is led by linebacker Vincent Salvati (117 tackles) and defensive linemen Jordyn Sweetser (62 tackles, 8.5 sacks) and Dominik Ramirez (54 tackles, five sacks). Ramirez missed most of the Sherando game with an injury.

Wilson said the Colonels will have to account for a lot of things on defense.

“[Sherando does] a lot of good things with their schematics and what they do running the ball,” Wilson said. “”We’ve got to do a better job of tackling in space.

“[Carlson] is a really good quarterback. The last couple weeks, they’ve shown they’re more willing to throw the ball deep down the field. They weren’t really doing that in the first few games we had seen from them. They were more dink and dunk kind of stuff, play-action stuff.”

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