WINCHESTER — At one point during Friday’s football game against Warren County, James Wood coach Todd Wilson told wide receiver Xavier Price to “have a day.”
With Owen Neal throwing to him, Price had an outing that most high school football players can’t attain in a career.
Each of Price’s five receptions from Neal went for touchdowns as the Colonels made a large Homecoming crowd at Kelican Stadium ecstatic with a 72-12 romp.
Price scored on catches of 19, 61, 68, 82 and 8 yards to total 238 yards, while Neal threw for 322 yards and also rushed for a touchdown in a contest where the Colonels (4-1, 1-1 Northwestern District) scored on every offensive possession but their final one (which was still driving when time ran out).
James Wood also got two big interceptions, one for a score by Aidric Yurish, and a 75-yard kickoff return TD from Kaden McCullough, as the Colonels rebounded from their initial loss of the season the previous week against Sherando.
Price had four touchdowns on the season heading into the contest, but he beat that total in less than three quarters against the Wildcats (0-4, 0-2).
“It’s surreal,” said Price. “I never expected to get five touchdowns. It’s a great feeling.”
Thanks to the two early interceptions, James Wood already had a 15-0 lead before Neal and Price connected for the first of four TD passes in the first half.
Price would showcase speed to get open as well as elusiveness after the catch, while Neal was able to roll away and dance out of pressure to find his favorite target on the night.
“It’s just all about finding open grass,” Price explained. “As long as you can find open grass, your quarterback can read that and get you the ball. Then you can do whatever you want.”
Neal said that he wasn’t specifically looking for Price, but things worked out that the 5-foot-9, 160-pound junior was open. “We have got a bunch of great wide receivers that they have to honor,” said Neal. “Xavier just ended up being the one that was open.”
Price scored in a variety of ways Friday. Touchdown No. 1 came on a busted coverage as two Wildcats defensive backs went with another James Wood receiver, while Price was wide open in the right corner of the end zone. McCullough’s two-point conversion run made it 23-0 with 1:07 left in the first quarter.
After Warren County cut the margin to 23-6 on a spectacular touchdown grab by Nick Harlow on a jump ball toss from Bryce Bergmann, Price made that score disappear. With Neal rolling right away from pressure, he found Price in an open spot over the middle. Price spun away from one defender and picked up some downfield blocking from the other Colonels wideouts for the 61-yard TD.
One possession later, Neal stepped up in the pocket to avoid pressure and launched a perfect strike to Price, who got behind the Warren County secondary for a 68-yard score that made it 36-6.
“When I can extend plays, it makes it easier because the defense has to honor me,” Neal said. “The wide receivers, it makes it easier for them to get open. It helps a lot.”
Neal also has the vision to find those open teammates.
“As well as he runs the ball, there are times where he looks like he’s going to pull it and take off running, but he doesn’t,” Wilson said. “His eyes are always downfield. He’s making plays and extending plays. That’s a testament to how strong he is. An arm-tackle is not going to bring him down.”
The Neal-to-Price combo wasn’t finished before the half ended. Leading 43-6 after Jeremiah Hodel’s 20-yard TD run, the Colonels took over at their own 18 after a punt with just 1:14 on the clock before halftime. They needed only one play to score.
In a play similar to the second TD catch, Neal found Price over the middle and the receiver did the rest. Price cut left, broke a tackle at the Warren County 45 and raced up the left sidelines for an 82-yard lightning bolt. McCullough’s conversion run after a low snap made the score 51-6 at halftime.
“Xavier is an explosive receiver,” Wilson said. “If he can get the ball in space, he can make things happen. It wasn’t like we game-planned for that. It’s just how it happened.”
McCullough’s second-half kickoff return, a nifty piece of running to get a hole down the left sidelines, and Aidan Bell’s extra point extended the Colonels’ lead to 58-6.
Neal would cap his big night with one more TD pass to Price, an 8-yarder that the receiver snared just before falling out of bounds on the right side of the end zone.
Neal would finish 11 of 15 and also rushed six times for 33 yards. He was not sacked by the Wildcats.
“He’s special,” Warren County coach Josh Breeden said of Neal. “He’s a good quarterback. We definitely had some miscommunications and blown assignments on defense and that’s on me as the coach. But, that kid is good. We practiced and prepared for him, but he’s special.”
The Wildcats never recovered from the two quick turnovers to start the contest. On second down from the Wildcats’ 14, James Wood linebacker Logan Lafollette blitzed in to pressure Bergmann, who threw an off-balance pass. The safety Yurish picked off the throw in stride at the 23 and raced in for a score. A Wildcat penalty allowed the Colonels to go for two points and Neal ran it in to make it 8-0.
On Warren County’s next possession, more pressure led to Dominik Ramirez picking off a pass near the line of scrimmage and returning it a couple of yards to the Warren County 5. On the next play, Neal scored and Bell’s extra point made it 15-0.
“We fell apart early,” Breeden said. “We spotted them some points early. Those two drives went the wrong way. We started unraveling a little bit and played panicked football.”
Hodel (16 carries, 123 yards) finished off the Colonels’ scoring with a 5-yard TD run in the final quarter. The Wildcats capped the scoring as Bergmann tossed a 3-yard TD pass to Harlow. Bergmann finished 10 of 19 for 144 yards with Harlow grabbing six of those for 92 yards.
Wilson liked what he saw from his club, which next plays at Meridian on Oct. 3, in rebounding from a loss and a tough week of practice.
“We didn’t play as well as we thought we could play,” he said of the 49-20 defeat to Sherando. “We had to address some things and regroup. Those guys responded tonight from the beginning of the game and all of the way through four quarters.
“It’s good to see them respond. We talked about not letting that one game define our season. The things that we want to do are still in front of us. The guys still believe in that and it was good to see them work really hard this week.”