Neal, Yurish push Wood past Fauquier late in 1-point win

WINCHESTER — Two months ago, Owen Neal and Aidric Yurish were competing for James Wood’s starting quarterback position. On Friday, both made crucial late-game plays to push the Colonels past Fauquier.

 

With the help of a strong second-half rushing attack from Neal and a fourth-quarter interception from Yurish, James Wood defeated Fauquier 34-33 in Kelican Stadium on Friday night.

 

In what James Wood head coach Todd Wilson called “a rollercoaster" of a game, it was Neal who came up clutch for the Colonels (5-3).

 

After the Falcons (1-6) scored a TD with 1:57 left in the third quarter to go up 12, Neal took a quarterback keeper down the right sideline 55 yards on the next play from scrimmage, outrunning Fauquier defensive back Jackson Holzer to reach the end zone. Neal’s score brought the game to 33-28.

 

And following a three-and-out for the Falcons' offense, Wood went on a 14-play, 57-yard drive capped off by a 1-yard rushing TD on a keeper by Neal that gave the Colonels a 34-33 lead after a failed 2-point conversion attempt.

 

On that drive, the Colonels made it all the way down to the Falcons’ 1-yard line before a botched snap caused a loss of 22 yards. On second-and-goal from the 23, Neal delivered a strike to wide receiver Xander Manzo over the middle on an in-breaking route for a gain of 20. One offsides penalty and one play later, Neal was in the end zone.

 

As Fauquier attempted to take back its lead late in the fourth quarter, quarterback Amari Martin lofted a pass down the middle of the field. With multiple Wood defenders in the area, Yurish climbed the latter for the interception to give the Colonels possession.

 

James Wood's offense then converted on a fourth-and-2 with just over one minute left, as Wood ended the game in victory formation.

 

The Colonels played far from a perfect game — they lost a fumble on a punt return, had nine penalties for 90 yards and were outgained 412-272 (44 of Wood's yards were lost on bad snaps behind the line of scrimmage). The Falcons also scored 20 straight points before Neal’s 55-yard score.

 

All that aside, Wilson liked how his team responded to adversity.

 

“I think we're a pretty good football team, but we're not good enough to overcome those types of things consistently against good opponents,” Wilson said. “But our kids bounced back, and they battled up for four quarters. It was nice to see our offense be able to stay on the field there and pick up that fourth down to seal the game for us.”

 

Neal finished the game with 19 carries for a team-high 109 yards and two scores. He was also 9-for-13 passing for 143 yards and two TDs.

 

Minutes before Neal scored the 55-yard TD, the sophomore signal-caller told offensive lineman Stewart Wiley on the sidelines to keep his head up after the Colonels went three-and-out and had to punt to Fauquier, which was up 27-21 at the time. 

 

That leadership is what Wilson was looking to see after he had a conversation with Neal earlier in the season.

 

“I had a conversation with him maybe about two, three weeks ago,” Wilson said. “He's a tough kid. We've seen how he runs the football. He works hard. He's a sports kid. He's great academically and comes from a great family. But he's starting to step out of a shell a little bit. He's a little bit more reserved, laid-back kind of kid, and not real motivated as far as hyping guys up and stuff like that. So I challenged him about three weeks ago to step more into that leadership role that we were lacking a little bit at the time, and he’s done that nicely.”

 

After starting as a freshman last season, Neal won the quarterback job over Yurish in fall camp. That hasn’t stopped Yurish, also a sophomore, from making impact plays like the game-sealing interception. Yurish also had a catch for 15 yards and a first down on offense.

 

“It's amazing,” Yurish said of his interception. “Man, just everybody [on the sidelines was] saying, ‘Oh yeah, AJ!’ Everybody gets hyped with you. Nothing more than a high school sophomore can ask for.”

 

Wilson is proud of how Yurish has embraced his role after losing the battle to Neal.

 

“He'll step in whatever role we ask him to,” Wilson said of Yurish. “I mean, [Neal and Yurish] competed. They're good friends. They competed over the summer for the quarterback job. Aidric could have pouted and complained; he didn't... kudos to him, too. Another sophomore kid who loves football and loves working.”

 

Although he isn't the Colonels' starting signal-caller, Yurish just wants to contribute in any way to help the team.

 

“I knew it was going to be a dog fight between me and Owen,” Yurish said. “It started this offseason, and I knew if he got the starting job, I would be able to play receiver and help him as much as I can. And I'm just glad that I can because I'm selfless. I just love football.”

 

It only took James Wood 32 seconds to get on the board Friday night.

 

A 50-yard kickoff return by Kaden McCullough set the Colonels up on the Falcons’ 30 to start their opening drive. Three plays later, Neal connected with Manzo on a screen pass for a 35-yard TD. Manzo finished with three catches for 66 yards. 

 

After an onside kick attempt by Wood, Fauquier responded with a 53-yard drive finished off by an 11-yard TD pass from Martin to Justin Clarke.

 

Neal had his second TD pass with 6:51 left in the first quarter, firing a shot down the seam to wide receiver Xavier Price for a 33-yard score. The Colonels converted the 2-point conversion on a fake extra-point attempt with a handoff from the holder to kicker Aidan Bell. That conversion gave James Wood a 14-7 lead.

 

Fauquier running back Aaron Lewis, who had a game-high 213 rushing yards on 19 carries, scored a 24-yard TD with 2:01 left in the first quarter that brought the game within one.

 

After Wood’s offense went three-and-out defensive back Kobe Mason recovered a fumble on a rush from Lewis.

 

Also Wood’s starting running back, Mason then scored a 7-yard rushing TD five plays later to give James Wood a 21-13 lead. Mason had 12 carries for 52 yards.

 

Fauquier went on to score 20 straight points behind two TDs from Eli Bynaker and one score from Lewis. 

 

Ultimately, Neal and Yurish were the difference makers late, as James Wood came back and recorded its fifth win of the year.

 

“It definitely gives us more energy and more confidence,” Neal said of the victory. “Hopefully, next week it just helps us work harder, get to conditioning, lifting and just [paying] more attention and just wanting it more.”

 

The Colonels will be off next week before hosting Liberty on Nov. 1.

 

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