Week 4 Football Preview

Posted: September 19, 2014

James Wood at Strasburg

When: Today, 7:30 p.m.

Where: Ram Stadium in Strasburg.

Records: James Wood Colonels (1-2); Strasburg Rams (1-1).

Last week: James Wood beat Warren County 36-0; Strasburg did not play.

Last year: Strasburg won 32-0.

Preview: It’s a pretty simple formula for success for James Wood — don’t turn the ball over and establish the running game.

In their two losses to Heritage (24-12) and Loudoun Valley (38-0) the Colonels had a total of seven turnovers and managed just 71.5 yards rushing per game.

In an impressive 36-0 rout of Warren County last week, James Wood didn’t turn the ball over once and rushed for 116 yards.

“We know what we have to do,” said James Wood coach Mark McHale. “We did it against Warren County and we saw the kind of success we could have.”

Now the Colonels will try to do it for a second game in a row — and snap an 11-game road losing streak in the process.

It won’t be easy against a Strasburg team that shut out James Wood 32-0 last year and brings back a number of key players from that team.

Rams coach Mark Roller has senior Mark Smoot back at quarterback and he’s joined by fellow returners in running back Colton Funk and fullback Justin Carr.

Strasburg, which will show multiple formations on offense, including the pistol and spread, is coming off a bye and has spent the last two weeks correcting mistakes that led to a 42-14 rout at the hands of East Rockingham in Week 2.

“We’ve gone back to the basics a little bit, working on fundamentals and perfecting our plays,” said Roller, who stressed the need to tackle better on defense. “The bye came at a really good time for us because we didn’t really execute against East Rockingham and they kind of took it to us.”

Roller said James Wood’s physical front could pose a problem for the Rams, and he knows the Colonels will look to enforce their running game from the start.

James Wood senior Landon Rutherford and junior Tyler Bishop should see some more holes open up for them with the return of senior offensive lineman Jesus Correa, who is back after missing last week’s game against Warren County, and McHale liked the confidence he saw from quarterback Brady Hepner, who bounced back from throwing seven interceptions in the first two games by completing 7 of 9 passes for 170 yards and two touchdowns.

“Brady got some short passes early and got in a rhythm, and really the whole team did,” McHale said. “We’ve told them that the formula we have to have at James Wood is we can’t turn the ball over, we have to establish field position and we have to be able to run the ball.

“We did that against Warren County and I think if we do that [tonight] against Strasburg we’ll have a chance to win.”

— Compiled by Robert Niedzwiecki and Kevin Trudgeon.