When James Wood football hosts Clarke County in the season opener at 7 p.m. this Friday at Kelican Stadium, the Eagles will hope the outcome looks much different than it did a year ago.
Last fall, Clarke County fell 44-3 to the Colonels at Wilbur Feltner Stadium, a result that served as a preview of where each team was headed in 2025.
James Wood finished 7-4 and reached the Region 4D quarterfinals after scoring a program record 41.5 points per game, while a young Eagles team that rostered just five seniors finished 1-9, marking its first losing year since 2006.
Although Clarke County struggled, James Wood head coach Todd Wilson said he’s not looking past a program that went 10-0 two seasons ago. He said lining up correctly against the Eagles’ single-wing attack will be important.
“We’ve got to get lined up right because they show a lot of different things, a lot of different looks,” Wilson said. “If you get caught staring in the backfield and looking at what the backfield action is doing, you’re going to get lost, and that’s what’s going to create big plays for them. So the number one thing is just our defense getting lined up and doing our alignment and assignments correctly.”
While Clarke County relies heavily on the run, James Wood boasts a versatile offense led by senior quarterback Owen Neal, who won Region 4D Offensive Player of the Year last season after throwing 27 passing touchdowns and tallying 16 rushing touchdowns.
Neal headlines a roster that retained 15 seniors, including standout receivers Xavier Price and Aidric Yurish, providing the Colonels impressive continuity.
With James Wood’s offense coming off such an impressive season, Wilson said the goal this year is to build upon what they’ve already done well. He said one area the team is working to improve is tempo.
“We’ve just been working tempo, trying to get a little faster tempo this year,” Wilson said. “We’ve been a no-huddle tempo team, but [we’re] really just trying to perfect that and just get quicker and quicker every week.”
Wilson also noted that, while Clarke County can control the clock with its ground attack, James Wood also has a formidable run game. He noted Neal’s 912 rushing yards last season, while also expressing optimism in running backs Jackson Ledford and Weston Smith’s ability to make an impact.
“I know everybody thinks we just throw the ball around all the time, but we like to run the ball as well,” Wilson said. “We’ve got a couple running backs that we think can help carry the load a little bit more … we don’t necessarily go into the game thinking we’re going to throw it x amount of times or run it x amount of times. We wait and see what the defense is presenting to us, and we take what they give us at that point.”
On Clarke County’s end, the offense will be led by junior running back Grady Ferrell, who ran for 982 yards and eight touchdowns in 2025. Eagles head coach Casey Childs has expressed optimism that the offense will feature players who can help ease Ferrell’s burden, and has also said Clarke County must reduce mental mistakes on both sides of the ball to improve upon last season.
Regardless of the Eagles’ potential improvements, Childs said James Wood will be a formidable foe.
“For us to have success, we’ve got to be able to play keep-away and we’ve got to try to find a way to create a turnover or two in order to take the ball and take some time off the clock,” Childs said. “They just play so well in space, and they’ve got all the ingredients to be able to be explosive. And when you’ve got a quarterback that can beat you with his legs, and also beat you with his arm, and then big kids up front that can protect and do what they need to do, you’re going to see a very successful offense from them throughout the year.”
James Wood’s defense is led by productive players in defensive end Heston LaRue (60 tackles, three sacks), linebackers Ledford (106 tackles) and Logan LaFollette (80 tackles, five sacks) and cornerback Price (four interceptions, eight pass breakups).
The Colonels allowed 23.5 points per game last season, but will focus on improving their consistency after giving up 35 points or more in all four games against Sherando, Handley and Millbrook.
Clarke County will rely on linebacker Ferrell (52 tackles) and free safety Elijah Abdulbarr (47 tackles, two pass breakups) to help lead a defense that’s looking to improve drastically after allowing 36 points per game last season.
Childs said the key for his team is to stick to its game plan despite James Wood’s size and skill.
“We’ve got to, up front on both sides of the football, get off the ball and play underneath their pad level because they’re so big,” Childs said. “And when you’re playing against a team like that, you’ve got to stay low and play your game. That’s what we have to be able to do to maintain the football.”
Additionally, as James Wood enters a pivotal season for its senior class, Wilson said the Colonels will be celebrating these players during Senior Night on Friday.
He said he expects the team’s veteran leaders to come prepared each and every week during their final season as Colonels.
“It’s a little bit different because we’re doing Senior Night game one,” Wilson said. “The seniors and everybody should be very excited about playing football and I just had a conversation with them today … especially the seniors. We told them they’re guaranteed 10 games, that’s it. Make every single one of them count. The season is important to them, every game is important to them. So there shouldn’t be any issues with the excitement.”
— Contact Joe Tuman at jtuman@winchesterstar.com
Follow him on X @jtuman21