Colonels hurt themselves in 17-3 defeat

September 17, 2011
By Robert Niedzwiecki
The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER- After the crowd let out a loud "Ohhhhhh," one of the game's offensive units finally made some noise of its own Friday night.

Hedgesville (W.Va.) took advantage of a 15-yard roughing penalty on its punter to break a tie and score the game's first touchdown with 10 minutes remaining, and the Eagles went on to a 17-3 victory over James Wood in a non-district game at Kelican Stadium.

Unlike much of the rest of the night, Colonels coach Mike Bolin couldn't be upset about the penalty that paved the way for the go-ahead score, because James Wood (2-2) was trying to block the punt.

The Colonels had practiced shooting through the "A" gap during the week because they thought they might be able to exploit that aspect of Hedgesville's punt protection.

But Tanner Rutherford got Eagles quarterback Troy Markley - who is also the punter - instead of the ball on the second-to-last play of the third quarter to draw a reaction from the crowd and put Hedgesville (2-2) at the James Wood 36.

Four plays later, Markley (190 total yards, including 111 rushing, and two rushing touchdowns) took a shotgun snap and sliced through the Colonels' defense - dragging a defender the last few yards - for a 17-yard touchdown run that make it 10-3 Eagles.

"We told [Rutherford] to go get it, and that's his job, and sometimes [penalties] happen," Bolin said. "It was a painful penalty for our team, but it's not like he was out there trying to do it. It's just he's being aggressive, and he almost blocked the punt."

Considering what James Wood had done offensively to that point, one can see why Bolin wanted to try and shake things up.

The Colonels out-gained Hedgesville 126-89 in the first half, but they gained just nine yards from scrimmage in the third quarter prior to the attempted punt block.

"A lot of our stuff we like to do, running between the tackles, was working," Bolin said. "But we shot ourselves in the foot with mistakes. We just didn't play well. I'm not going to sit here and come up with one thousand excuses. We didn't play well, and we didn't play to win. That's the bottom line."

James Wood - which led 3-0 at the half on a 33-yard Chandler DeHaven field goal - committed six penalties for 55 yards. They turned the ball over three times, though the Colonels were fortunate to lose just one of their five fumbles.

Their last turnover of the night essentially sewed up the game for Hedgesville. Just three plays after Markley's touchdown, quarterback Jake Lewin led T.J. Bruce on a crossing pattern a little too far.

Hedgesville safety Casey Horn was able to zero in on it and return his interception more than 25 yards to the James Wood 17. Six plays later, Markley scored from three yards out to make it 17-3.

James Wood drove to Hedgesville's 33 on its next possession, but another Colonels' mistake resulted in the ball being turned over on downs. Lewin had to scramble to pick up a low snap, and he was sacked before he could get a pass off.

Hedgesville coach Rich Thomaselli said preparation was they key to holding the Colonels to 166 yards, including just 40 in the second half.

"We knew what they doing as soon as they were lining up, and the kids just flew to the ball," Thomaselli said.

Thomaselli said the Eagles also got a big emotional lift from foreign exchange student Mario Andric.

He only joined the team this week, and he blasted a 35-yard field goal that would have been good from much longer to cap a 60-yard drive on the team's first possession of the second half to tie the game at 3.

The drive featured 25 rushing yards from Markley and also some impressive runs from Conner Shipley, who utilized numerous counter plays to get 58 of his 81 rushing yards after halftime.

After losing their second straight game, Bolin said the Colonels have some soul-searching to do, because they didn't perform the way they wanted in any aspect.

"We didn't block well, we didn't tackle well, we came out flat in the second half, we didn't coach well," Bolin said. "There's not a person in here, players and coaches included, that did their job tonight. None."

Aaron Clark led the Colonels with 83 rushing yards on 19 carries.

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