September 3, 2011
By Kevin Trudgeon
The Winchester Star

Winchester- Every coach hopes his team can get out to a quick start, but Mike Bolin must have been counting his lucky stars Friday night.

Looking to build on a thrilling come-from-behind win over Heritage a week earlier, Bolin watched as his James Wood football squad turned in a first quarter against visiting Loudoun Valley that most teams can only dream of.

Taking the opening kickoff, the Colonels engineered a 16-play, 73-yard drive that ate up over seven minutes of clock and was capped by senior running back Aaron Clark's seven-yard burst through the right side to make it 7-0.

A fumble by the Vikings on the ensuing kickoff gave the ball right back to the Colonels, and six plays later senior kicker Chandler DeHaven split the uprights from 31 yards out to make it 10-0 in favor of James Wood.

By the time the Vikings ran their first offensive play of the game there was only 2:30 left in the quarter, and an interception on their second play from scrimmage did not help their effort to get something going.

All told, James Wood had the ball for more than 10 minutes in the opening quarter and ran 23 plays, compared to just four for Loudoun Valley, setting the table for a dominating 19-6 win in front of a rowdy crowd at Kelican Stadium.
"When you're down 10-0 and you haven't touched the ball yet, you're in a hole that's hard to dig out of, especially against a team like us when we're having success controlling the clock," said Bolin, whose team would end up running 27 more offensive plays than the Vikings and win the time-of-possession battle handily.

"That's two weeks in a row now [that the Colonels scored on their first possession], last week we were 16 [plays] and 80 [yards]. Anytime you can start a game like that, you really set the tone for the rest of the night."

The final score may not have resembled a blowout, but there was no doubt who was in control throughout.

With the offense staking them to a 10-point lead, the James Wood defense shut down the Vikings' two-quarterback system.

The Colonels (2-0) surrendered just one first down and 55 yards of total offense in the first half and kept up the pressure in the second half.

From late in the first quarter to the final minutes of the fourth quarter, the Loudoun Valley (1-1) offense had eight possessions that resulted in six three-and-outs, a fumble and a turnover on downs.

"I think we struggled figuring out what we wanted to do to make us successful," said Loudoun Valley coach Daniel McGrath, whose team did not register its second first down of the game until there was less than three minutes to go in the fourth quarter.

"All the credit goes to James Wood, they did a great job all night of getting their players ready to play. I just wish we could have gotten a little more out of our side."

James Wood senior quarterback Jake Lewin found senior tight end Mel Savarese on a 20-yard, play-action pass at the end of the third quarter and DeHaven added a 28-yard field goal late in the fourth.

The Vikings avoided a shutout when quarterback Danny White hit Wesley Robinson on a 1-yard pass with just over two minutes to go in the game, but it was not nearly enough on a night when the Colonels wracked up nearly 300 yards of total offense, including 215 yards on the ground.

Clark was the horse, carrying the ball 26 times for 81 yards, but he was helped by fellow seniors Matt Bean, who finished with 40 yards on 13 carries, and Chad Potter (two carries for 56 yards).

Lewin was efficient through the air, going 6 for 8 for 67 yards and the one score.

"Everybody was getting good yards," Clark said. "We're a run-based team, so when it's working like it was tonight, we're in great shape.

"And our defense was phenomenal. Like they say, defense wins games and they proved it tonight. They stopped the run, they stopped the pass. They did an awesome job tonight."

Senior running back Daniel Devine led Loudoun Valley with 46 yards on six carries and quarterbacks Neill Frazier and Danny White combined to go 10 for 23 for 84 yards.

Mark Bean tallied an interception and A.J. Eubank and Bradley Skillman each had fumble recoveries for James Wood in the win.

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