FRONT ROYAL — Visiting James Wood came into Friday night’s football game against Warren County trying to rebound from a tough loss at the hands of arch-rival Sherando.
The Wildcats — celebrating Hall of Fame Night — were hoping to build momentum from last week’s upset win over Class 3 power Kettle Run.
In the end, after a wild night of offensive fireworks, it was the Colonels who accomplished their goal with a convincing 56-26 win over the Wildcats.
James Wood (4-1, 1-1 Northwestern District) rolled up 485 yards of total offense and scored on six of its first seven possessions, including four in a row in the first half to take a commanding 28-point lead at the half.
“We are a pretty mature football team and a lot of these guys like [quarterback] Owen [Neal], he’s four-year starter and a lot of the guys on our offensive line are three-and four-year starters,” James Wood coach Todd Wilson said. “We have a lot of guys who have played a lot of football. So they know one loss isn’t going to determine our whole season. But it was good to see them bounce back, especially on the road. I thought the boys responded well tonight.”
Neal led the Colonels offensive outburst by completing 15 of 22 passes for 297 yards and four touchdown passes. Neal also ran for 37 yards and three touchdowns.
“We had a good game plan coming in,” Neal said. “The whole coaching staff knew what plays we could hit, and we executed.”
The Colonels left little doubt that last week’s loss is a distant memory.
“Last week was a good game, Sherando is a good team, but we needed to bounce back and get some confidence back,” Neal said. “Just regain what we know we can do.”
The Wildcats’ secondary was torched by Neal who hit on long TD passes of 18, 33, 38, and 50 yards.
“They do a great job of playing with numbers,” Warren County coach Josh Breeden said. They out-leverage you. They will move around on offense to get our guys moving around on defense and take advantage of space.
“We had some miscues, and to be honest that is 100 percent on me. I have to have our guys better prepared and do a better job of coaching throughout the week.”
The Colonels took the opening possession of the game and marched quickly downfield, going 65 yards in five plays as Neal connected with Xavier Price to cap off the drive. Draven Hernandez hit the first of his eight extra-point kicks to give the Colonels a 7-0 lead.
Warren County (2-2, 1-1) answered the Colonels’ score by going 62 yards in eight plays to tie the score as running back Frank Nelson swept in from 1 yard out. Warren quarterback Byrce Bergmann completed 4 of 5 of his passing attempts in the drive.
But after that it was all James Wood. The Colonels responded by scoring six plays later on Neal’s 2-yard run.
After forcing the Wildcats to punt late in the first quarter, the Colonels once again marched downfield. This time they took just five plays to score as Neal connected on a 33-yard strike to Price, who made a nice leaping catch in the corner of the end zone.
Leading 21-7 early in the second quarter, James Wood once again forced another Wildcats punt. After taking over at the Warren 45 after a short punt, Neal capped off another quick drive with a 15-yard TD run around the right side.
Trailing 28-7, the Wildcats fought back. Kaiden Clowser took the ensuing kick from the Warren 18 and returned it all the way to the James Wood 32, recovering his own fumble at the end of the run.
Six plays later Warren’s David Otyenoh rumbled in from the 1-yard line to cut the lead in half at 28-14.
“Our grit and tenacity continues to show up,” Breeden said. “The guys battled their tails off.”
The Colonels quickly took the Wildcats momentum away by tacking on two more scores before the half.
Dane Tews scored on a 10-yard run to push the lead to 35-14, then after another Warren County punt, Neal hooked up with Jackson Lang for a 32-yard pass that led to Neal scoring another TD, this time on a 9-yard run. James Wood led at the half 42-14.
After Warren punted on its opening possession to start the second half, Neal and the Colonels attack struck again.
After Neal rolled to his right, he fired back across the middle of the field to hit a wide-open Parker Kerns for a 38-yard touchdown.
On the Colonels’ next possession, Neal hit Kerns once again on another wide-open route for a 50-yard score to push the lead to 56-14.
Warren managed a score late in the third quarter on Bergmann’s 52-yard TD pass to Troy DeHaven. In the fourth quarter the Wildcats defense finally stopped the Colonels, taking the ball over on downs. Eight plays later Bergmann scored on a 9-yard run to close out the scoring.
Bergmann finished with 167 yards passing and completed 14 of 22 passes with a TD pass and touchdown run.
“Coach Breeden is doing a good job down here,” Wilson said. “They are doing some things differently with their offense this year and they have a really good quarterback and a lot skill guys, but we didn’t really change anything after that first drive.
“After we kind of settled in, the speed of the game kind of slowed down for us, after we got our legs under us. The guys up front got some pressure on that quarterback forcing him not to set in the pocket and be able to read his coverages and things like that.”
James Wood will host Meridian at 7 p.m. next Friday.