Colonels put on scoring display in 38-23 win over Falcons

October 29, 2011
By Robert Niedzwiecki
The Winchester Star

WARRENTON- Little by little, Fauquier quarterback Colin Diehl piled up the passing yards.

But explosive play by explosive play, James Wood piled up the points.

James Wood scored a season-high 38 points on the strength of three 40-plus-yard touchdowns - including one that was one of its two defensive touchdowns - and earned an impressive 38-23 non-district football victory over Fauquier on a rainy Friday night at Fauquier High School.

"Take away the first three minutes, and we battled all game," said Colonels coach Mike Bolin, whose team survived a 370-yard passing night from Diehl thanks in part to three interceptions. "We always have effort, but we didn't always make plays. We hit that five-game losing streak, we just weren't making plays.

"The last two weeks we've been making plays, and that's the biggest difference."

James Wood (4-5) fumbled the opening kickoff and fell behind 7-0 after two minutes, then had a three-and-out on its first possession. But after Fauquier (5-4) fumbled the ensuing punt for the first of its four turnovers, the Colonels were off to the races. James Wood took over on the Fauquier 42 after the fumbled punt, and Jake Lewin hit T.J. Bruce to tie the game at 7 at the 9:02 mark of the first.

Lewin had a 91-yard touchdown run to make it 14-10 Colonels in the second quarter.

Tanner Rutherford had a 73-yard interception return with one second left in the first half to make it 24-10 as a result of James Wood pressure that got even more intense in the second half.

And Erik Bearer had an interception in the end zone that made it 31-17 with 5:04 left in the third, which the Falcons could never recover from. James Wood went up 38-17 before the final score.

"Big play after big play after big play, it kills you," Fauquier coach Mark Scott said.

With single-man coverage, Bruce (three catches for 93 yards) made an impressive play on the first touchdown, coming back to the ball and letting his man fly by so he could catch it at the 5. But Lewin's touchdown run was truly unusual.

After faking a handoff left, Lewin (two rushing touchdowns) bootlegged right and sprinted down the sideline for a 91-yard score.

"That play is basically all on the fake," Lewin said. "You make a good fake, and usually our tight end Mel [Savarese] is wide open.

"They were on his back, and I was like, 'I don't know if I should push it in there,' so I just ran and Mel made a great block and so did Chad [Potter]. They gave me a nice running lane and I ran it in."

James Wood never trailed again, and much of the credit for that can be given to a defense that gave Diehl fits despite his 34-of-47 passing line. Bolin thought the defensive line was particularly impressive - they didn't need to blitz to get to the quarterback, allowing the rest of the defense to focus on pass coverage.

"Our defensive line played one of the best games I can remember our defensive line playing, and I've been here eight years," Bolin said. "Erik Bearer, Nick Hayden, Mel Savarese. R.J. Miller - those guys really stepped up and played a great game.

"When Fauquier's successful, their timing's on and they're being very methodical. We were able to get their quarterback moving and that put a lot of pressure on [Diehl]."

Pressure resulted in Rutherford's touchdown, as a stumbling Diehl - whose longest pass went for 28 yards - attempted a shovel pass that bounced off Rutherford's helmet and into his arms, and he outran the defense.

In the third quarter, it was Miller's burst toward Diehl in the back of the end zone that resulted in him throwing a hurried pass right into Bearer's arms.

"The coverage behind us was great [all night]," Bearer said. "They were holding them for eight seconds. The linebackers got their quick, and the db's did their job. We just had to make a play, and that's what we did."

On his touchdown, Bearer said he was thinking the Colonels would get Diehl for a safety, but he was pleasantly surprised that the ball wound up in his hands.

That was one of the few things that surprised James Wood Friday night. Despite their losing streak, the Colonels strayed confident, and now they have a chance to even their record.

"After [winning] the first two games, we knew what we could do," Rutherford said. "We started falling a little bit, but now we're back up. Hopefully we can keep this confidence up against Handley."

In the second quarter, Chandler DeHaven hit a 29-yard field goal to improve to 8 for 10 on the year and set a school record for makes in the process.

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