October 15, 2010

By Robert Niedzwiecki

The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER- The James Wood High School football team doesn't do moral victories.

It does do optimism though, and the Colonels (3-3, 0-1 Northwestern District) have plenty of it heading into tonight's homecoming game.

James Wood, which holds the No. 8 ranking in the Region II Division 4 playoff ratings (eight teams qualify), will look to improve its positioning beginning at 7 p.m against Skyline (2-4, 0-1).

"We just want to keep going at the tempo we played at last week," said coach Mike Bolin, whose Colonels came up just short in a 14-7 loss to Sherando last Friday, turning the ball over on downs at the Warriors' 11 with 13 seconds remaining. "We were playing with one of the best teams in the state shot for shot. You never want to lose, but if we can play like we did last week, we can be successful."

Against Sherando, James Wood played mostly outside the hash marks in its running game and passing game.

But Bolin has said all along that the Colonels are going to base their attack on what the defense is giving them, and Skyline coach Heath Gilbert is expecting Wood to come with a physical rushing attack. The Hawks gave up 268 yards on the ground to Millbrook last week. While Skyline's main focus will be on stopping the run, Bolin said his defense can't focus on any one thing against a balanced Hawks offense.

Quarterback Derek Helsley (51 of 108 for 886 yards, 6 TDs, 8 INTs) has thrown the ball 29 times more than any district quarterback, and he's thrown for 333 more yards than anyone else.

James Wood, which forced Sherando's first two interceptions of the year a week ago, will take its chances against the pass, though. The Colonels have eight interceptions and have allowed just 83 passing yards per game.

"Our secondary's extremely athletic," Bolin said. "It's the best we've had since I've been here."

Gilbert said the Hawks won't be able to compete unless they start cutting down on mistakes. Turnovers and penalties have been a problem all year, and last week Millbrook converted one interception into a touchdown and recovered a fumble inside its own 10 to thwart the Hawks.

"We had over 300 yards of offense, they had 330, and it was 28-7," said Gilbert, whose team is minus-3 in turnovers for the season. "We put ourselves in bad situations with penalties and turnovers. I think we can play with anyone in the district if we play a clean game."

Bolin said the Colonels will be without two-way linemen Chase Tyler for the rest of the season after the senior was injured in the second half against Sherando.

"It's too bad it had to turn out this way," Bolin said. "He's such a good kid and a hard worker. He's going to continue working with the guys and helping them as much as he can."