BEALETON — For much of this season, James Wood has thrived on making big plays when it matters most. However, during its road game against Liberty, it was the Eagles who came through in the late stages.
After James Wood fumbled with 4:01 remaining, Liberty gained possession on its 34 while trailing 27-20. A 10-play scoring drive ensued, with quarterback AP Hull scoring a 1-yard touchdown to draw closer. Liberty chose to go for two, and Hull ran it in to take a 28-27 lead with 55 seconds left.
The Eagles then held the Colonels at bay until the clock ran out, securing their fourth straight win to improve to 4-3 (4-2 Northwestern District). James Wood fell to 6-2 (3-2 district).
Colonels’ quarterback Owen Neal spoke passionately to his teammates in the postgame huddle. He said his message was that the entire team needs to be more disciplined on and off the field moving forward.
“We’ve just got to mentally grow up, mentally toughen up,” Neal said. “Just too much playing around, not enough focus from us. We’re playing for ourselves, not the team, and we’ve got to change that.”
Though the late fumble and any potential lack of focus on the sidelines hurt James Wood, there were several other issues throughout the game that caused the Colonels to suffer a tough loss.
An early fourth-quarter interception, a blocked extra point, ill-timed penalties and, perhaps most notably, an inability to defend the Liberty passing game’s deep shots all contributed.
Liberty completed five passes of 30 yards or more and gained 23 first downs compared to James Wood’s 17. Hull completed 17 of 27 passes for 279 yards and a touchdown, while Gavin Cook completed 3 of his 4 attempts for 44 yards and a score. Hull added 38 rushing yards, two rushing touchdowns and two two-point conversions, while Cook added 14 touches for 109 yards rushing and receiving.
“They’ve gotten extremely better as the year has gone on,” James Wood head coach Todd Wilson said. “Turnovers hurt us, the deep ball hurt us. We have zero pass rush, we can’t get to the quarterback. And when you give teams like that that much time, it makes it harder in the back end for our defensive backs to cover that long. But hats off to them, they’ve got their offensive line doing a good job blocking up front, and we’ve got to get better at the pass rush.”
Liberty’s pass rush was more effective, sacking Neal four times while also helping force multiple tackles for loss. Despite the loss, Neal was his normal self statistically.
He completed 17 of 25 passes for 298 yards for one touchdown and the interception, while also running 15 times for 75 yards and an additional two touchdowns. Wide receiver Xavier Price was relied on heavily down the stretch, finishing with nine catches for 139 yards and a score.
The game opened with both teams being very aggressive. Liberty turned the ball over on downs after going for it on fourth-and-11, before James Wood did the same on fourth-and-20.
This gave Liberty the ball at midfield and set the Eagles up for Cook’s 37-yard touchdown pass to Owen Corbin, who finished with four catches for 122 yards. This put the home team ahead 7-0 with 4:48 left in the first quarter.
James Wood responded with a 10-play, 55-yard drive that culminated with a game-tying score. Two first-down catches by Aidric Yurish, who finished with five catches for 113 yards and a touchdown, helped move his team down the field. Neal then scored on a 13-yard keeper on the first play of the second quarter to tie the game.
The next drive saw Cook shift from playing quarterback to factoring into the pass game. Hull found him for a 21-yard gain to move Liberty to the Colonels’ 33. Two run plays by Hull moved his team to the 14, before his brother, Ariyan Hull, ran the ball down to the 1-yard line.
Though James Wood stopped AP Hull from crossing the goal line on his first attempt, the quarterback dove into the end zone on his second try to take a 14-7 lead with 7:35 left before halftime.
James Wood’s next drive started with Neal finding Price for a gain of 22. Three plays later, Yurish caught a 17-yard pass to move the Colonels to Liberty’s 29.
James Wood then encountered two separate fourth downs and conquered them both. First, Neal ran for a gain of three on fourth-and-1, before connecting with Yurish for a 24-yard score on fourth-and-7.
The Colonels’ extra point was blocked, putting them in a 1-point hole with 2:26 left before the break at 14-13. Wilson said there was a “high snap” on the kick and said he didn’t think the pressure from Liberty caused the play to blow up.
On the next drive, a bad snap that sailed over Hull’s head forced Liberty to punt on fourth-and-21 before the half, allowing James Wood to stay right in the game going into the third quarter.
Coming out of the locker room, Liberty sacked Neal and forced a three-and-out. James Wood returned the favor and began its next drive on the Liberty 34 after a 21-yard return by Price.
Neal immediately connected with Kaden McCullough on a seam route for a 32-yard gain. Three plays later, Neal ran in a 2-yard touchdown, but missed on a two-point conversion pass. The Colonels now led 19-14 with 7:12 left in the third.
Liberty answered immediately with its longest pass of the night. On third-and-10, Hull connected with his brother along the far sideline. Ariyan Hull made the lone defender in the area miss on his tackle, taking the 75-yard reception in for six. James Wood prevented AP Hull’s two-point rush attempt, making it 20-19 with 6:07 on the clock.
James Wood’s offense quickly found itself in a second-and-30 on its next drive after back-to-back penalties, but it rallied when Neal found Price for two long completions, the second of which was a 25-yard score. James Wood now led 27-20 with 4:13 remaining before the final quarter.
Four plays into the next possession, a 38-yard catch by Corbin moved Liberty to the Colonels’ 35. However, a 10-yard penalty and a sack forced the Eagles into a second-and-30 that led to an eventual punt.
James Wood took over on its 12 and ran three plays before the end of the quarter. On the first play of the fourth, Neal threw a 50/50 ball way downfield and it was picked off by Liberty, giving the home team possession on its 7-yard line.
Neal took responsibility not only for the interception, but also for the entire game’s outcome.
“I’ve got to make a better decision, I have to relay information so we’re all on the same page,” Neal said. “I have to be better so we’re not in that situation to begin with. We can’t [have only] one minute left and only be up seven. We should have been up by more, and that falls on me.”
Liberty soon gained 60 yards across 12 plays, but turned the ball over on downs after going for it on fourth-and-11 from James Wood’s 26.
The Colonels moved the ball down to Liberty’s 26, but a catch by McCullough was punched out by the Eagles, who recovered the ball on their 34 with 4:01 remaining.
Liberty made its way down the field, avoiding a fourth-down scenario after a James Wood facemask penalty. From here, the Eagles reached the goal line and failed to convert twice.
Wilson called two of his timeouts before Hull finally scored on a 1-yard keeper. Liberty kept the offense on the field, and Hull ran the ball in again to make it 28-27 with 55 seconds remaining.
On the final drive, Neal put his trust in Price by targeting him six times. Price was able to pick up some short gains, but both of Neal’s deep targets to him went incomplete.
Neal avoided pressure by throwing the ball out of bounds on the game’s penultimate play, before he was sacked by the Eagles as the final three seconds ticked away to end the game.
With James Wood now at its bye week, Wilson said the team’s focus will be “fixing our mistakes.”
“We came out flat,” Wilson said. “That’s a little bit on me … I don’t know, maybe we’re just excited to play at home, and we think we can just show up at somebody else’s field and they’re just going to hand it over to us. They played a good game and we’ve just got to do better.”
The Colonels will return to action at home on Friday, Oct. 31, for a Halloween clash with Handley.
— Contact Joe Tuman at jtuman@winchesterstar.com
Follow him on X @jtuman21