Sherando beats Wood to complete season football sweep

STEPHENS CITY — The Sherando High School football team was only able to snag one of the 16 All-Northwestern District Offensive Unit First Team selections, and secured only four of the 62 total All-District offensive spots in the 12-team league.

Because they have a lot of players that can do damage, the Warriors averaged 38.8 points and 368.1 yards per game in going 9-1. The position group that earned two of the four All-District selections certainly created a large swath of destruction to help Sherando to another big offensive night on Friday at Arrowhead Stadium.

The second-seeded Warriors recorded more than 40 points in a game for the seventh time in 11 games with a 48-7 win over No. 7 James Wood in the Region 4D quarterfinals to complete a season sweep of their Frederick County rivals. Sherando (10-1) defeated the Colonels (7-4) 35-0 at Arrowhead Stadium on Oct. 11.

The Warriors will host No. 3 Jefferson Forest (9-2) in the semifinals next Friday at 7 p.m. The Cavaliers defeated No. 6 Orange County 33-6 on Friday.

Seven Sherando players scored touchdowns. In the first half, 10 Warriors combined to gain 356 of Sherando's 471 yards to send the Warriors into the locker room with a 34-0 halftime lead. The Warriors scored on all five of their possessions in the first half, and four of them went for more than 80 yards.

It was a pretty diverse effort, but James Wood coach Todd Wilson was most impressed with the Sherando offensive players who didn't touch the ball.

"The game's won up front," Wilson said. "Their offensive line was just moving guys. When you can do that, it's hard for the guys in the back end, the linebackers, to scrape and field. They're trying to fill gaps that are way too big to make a play in.

"Hat's off to [the Warriors]. They've got a heck of an offensive line, and they moved the ball extremely well tonight."

Sherando's offensive line features senior Ethan Rice and sophomore Tate Martin, who rotate at left tackle, senior left guard Kaden Hurst, junior center Jarrett See (Second Team All-District), senior right guard Mason Patterson and senior right tackle Parker Fredman. Senior Ben Taylor starts at tight end.

Fredman — Sherando's lone First Team All-District selection on offense — enjoyed every moment the Warriors had the ball.

"We dominated the D-line the whole time," Fredman said. "I love the chemistry [of the offensive line]. We're great together."

That group paved the way for 331 rushing yards on 36 rushing attempts, with Tali Burgess (seven carries for 77 yards and one TD, a 1-yard run that closed out the scoring with eight seconds left in the third quarter) and Mason McKee (eight carries for 74 yards and one TD) leading the charge. McKee ripped through a tackle attempt at the 5 to finish off his 20-yard TD run that made it 14-0 with 59 seconds left in the first quarter.

Quarterback Micah Carlson went 5 for 5 and was aided greatly by yards after the catch in a 140-yard passing effort, with Aiden Leatch catching two passes for 67 yards and Tucker LaFever turning a short pitch forward into a 56-yard gain to the right.

Carlson (four carries, 40 yards) opened the scoring with a 6-yard TD run up the middle with 7:26 left in the first quarter (Leatch had the first of his six successful kicks to make it 7-0) and threw his one TD pass to Taylor (10 yards) to make it 28-0 with 8:10 left in the second quarter. Taylor's TD came two plays after Hayden LaFever manuevered his way through James Wood's return unit to recover Leatch's bouncing kickoff at the Colonels' 16.

Others who found the end zone were James Walters (1-yard run with 8:49 left in the second quarter for a 21-0 lead), Sam Ridings (1-yard run with 1:10 left in the second quarter for a 34-0 lead) and Ethan Golightly (15-yard run with 8:02 remaining in the third quarter for a 41-0 lead).

Sherando always looks to get everyone involved, and just about how everyone on offense was able to add to their highlight reel on Friday.

"We just do what we do," Warriors coach T.J. Rohrbaugh said. "Our offense, we have a system that we like, and that includes distributing the ball to a lot of different people. We've been doing it all year. We're just going to get the ball where we think it gives us the best opportunity to move the chains, and that's what we did tonight."

James Wood actually did a pretty decent job of moving the chains. The Colonels had 10 first downs and 145 yards in the first half, this after having 12 first downs and 133 yards the entire game in their first meeting with Sherando. But the Warriors made a stand every time they needed one.

James Wood reached the Sherando 30 on its first drive before punting on fourth-and-16 at the 38 due in part to an illegal procedure penalty.

The Colonels reached the Warrior 36 on the second drive, but a 10-yard sack by Taylor forced a punt from the 46.

James Wood made it the Sherando 39 on its third drive, but Reth Puller broke up a pass inside the 10 and forced a Wood punt.

On their fourth and last full possession of the first half, James Wood reached the Warrior 10, but Walters had a 9-yard sack and the Warriors broke up a fourth-and-10 pass from the 19.

The Colonels only managed 37 yards on 23 carries after picking up 22 yards on 21 attempts in the first meeting. Owen Neal completed 22 of 37 passes for 227 yards, with Xander Manzo catching five passes for 79 yards.

"Our game plan was bend but don't break," Rohrbaugh said. "We had other things defensively that we were prepared to do should they hurt us at any point. But when our offense was getting the ball down the field and scoring every time, we never really had to get out of our base look. We had a light box, but we were stopping the run. We were willing to give up some yardage, not give up the big play, and just make them earn it all the way down the field."

James Wood finally scored with 2:47 left in the third quarter on Neal's 6-yard TD pass to Kaden McCullough. Aidan Bell kicked the extra point to make it 41-7.

"We knew we going to have a tough time running the ball," Wilson said. "We moved the ball OK, but we've got to get points when we move the ball. They're a good defense. Xander Manzo made some really nice catches for us."

Wilson was proud of how hard the entire team fought on Friday.

There was a lot to be proud about for the entire season. The Colonels improved on last year's win by three and made the playoffs for the first time since 2021, when they also went 7-4.

"I told Owen walking off the field that we're heading in the right direction," Wilson said. "We started two freshmen tonight [linebacker Jackson Ledford and offensive lineman Donny Ramirez], and there probably aren't too many teams that would be doing that in a playoff game. A lot of young kids played for us tonight. We're going to miss guys like [linebacker] Vincent [Salvati], his leadership and what he's done for our defense, but we love the core group of young kids, their work ethic, and how hard they play."

Salvati is one of just nine seniors on the Colonels. He's glad he could help the program grow, and is looking forward to what the future holds.

"We gave 100 percent effort all night long," Salvati said. "At the beginning of the year, us seniors and captains aimed to make the playoffs, and we did it. It starts in the offseason. All the guys were dedicated. Everybody was there. Next year, I won't be there, but there will be more dedicated guys, and they'll be really good next year, too."

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