Colonels’ Late Push Comes Up Short Against Fauquier In 17-15 Loss

Posted: September 27, 2014

By JERRY HOLSWORTH

Special to The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — With Fauquier out-rushing James Wood 204-143, and out-passing them 142-23, it might seem that Friday’s football game between the Colonels and Falcons wasn’t close.

Add in the fact Fauquier was in the Wood’s red zone five times and Colonel starting quarterback Brady Hepner didn’t play the entire second half and most would envision a very lopsided game.

Football, however, is not entirely about statistics and athletic ability. Character and determination are also factors, and in those categories the Colonels hung tough, despite losing a narrow 17-15 decision to Fauquier.

Three things proved to be the deciding factors in James Wood’s demise. Falcons running back Briar Thomas was able to churn out 151 yards on 24 carries behind a punishing Fauquier offensive line that consumed valuable minutes off the clock and kept the ball out of the hands of the Colonel offense.

“I thought that their offensive line dominated the game,” said Colonel coach Mark McHale. “When they can move the ball like they did on us, it hurts in two ways. They eat up the clock and reduce our opportunities on offense, but it also resulted in us having poor field position to start most of our drives. We need to learn how to get some three-and-outs on defense.”

Despite those numbers, big plays by Wood’s defense turned the Falcons back three times in the red zone, keeping the Colonels in the game.

Fauquier’s powerful running game began to take its toll on Wood with the opening kickoff. The Falcons drove the ball 44 yards on their opening possession to the James Wood 9-yard line, only to be turned back by a Colonel goal-line stand that resulted in a missed field goal attempt.

Wood was the first to score in the game thanks to a 25-yard touchdown pass from Hepner to Tyler Bishop with 3:32 left in the first quarter. Hepner also got the 2-point conversion with a run off right tackle to put the Colonels up 8-0.

Fauquier responded with a 10-play, 70-yard drive that resulted in a seven-yard touchdown run by Thomas on the first play of the second quarter.

The Falcons scored again on their next possession on a 10-yard run by Thomas to go ahead 14-8 with 6:53 left in the first half.

Thanks to runs of 10 and 14 yards by Thomas, and a critical 14-yard completion by Heisler, Fauquier drove the ball to the Wood 10-yard line late in the second quarter, only be stopped when Conner Rhodes recovered a Falcon fumble on the 5-yard line to keep it a one-score game heading into halftime.

But James Wood did not have the services of Hepner at quarterback in the second half, and the Colonels were forced to turn to sophomore Dade Carroll.

But instead of Hepner’s injury discouraging Wood, it seemed to inspire Bishop, and fellow running back Landon Rutherford, who took the Colonel offense on their shoulders and nearly carried it to a stunning upset.

“I thought that we stepped up when we really needed to,” Bishop said. “But we need to step up like that more. They were able to move the ball too easily on us. For most of the game we didn’t play very well on defense.”

Fauquier pushed the ball deep into Colonel territory three more times in the game, but was only able to come away with a 22-yard field goal thanks to an interception by Nick Manuel (one of two he had in the game) and another goal-line stand by Wood’s defense.

Manuel’s interception return to the Falcon 23 gave the Colonels their first real opportunity to score in the second half, and they didn’t let it slip by as Rutherford found the end zone from two yards out and Brady Burner kicked an extra point to cut the deficit to 17-15.

“I thought that we came out a little flat in the first half,” Rutherford said. “We’ve got to play the whole game like we played the second half.”

Unfortunately for Wood, Rutherford’s touchdown run came with just 53 seconds left in the game, and the Falcons were able to recover the ensuing onside kick to seal the win.

“It was a good win, but it was a sloppy win,” said Fauquier coach Jaime Carter. “We made a lot of mistakes and you can’t do that against a team as determined as James Wood. Normally you don’t come out on top when you play like we did.”