WINCHESTER — The number 13 has been very good to the James Wood High School football team this season.
On Friday against Liberty, the Colonels had the best of luck with those digits, again.
Aidric Yurish (No. 13) caught a career-high four touchdown passes from Owen Neal, who tossed five, and James Wood got a strong bounce-back effort from its defense in a 62-21 romp at Kelican Stadium.
Yurish got the Colonels (7-1 overall, 4-1 Northwestern District) going with a pair of nifty touchdowns in the first quarter and Neal guided an offense that scored on all but one of its possessions against the Eagles (2-5, 1-5).
The James Wood defense, which gave up a season-high 49 points last week against Millbrook, forced a turnover on Liberty’s first possession and dominated as the Colonels built a 55-7 lead through three quarters.
Yurish came into the contest leading the area in receiving with 39 catches for 804 yards. The senior added nicely to those totals with six catches for 100 yards, but his biggest gain was in touchdowns where he doubled his previous season total of four.
He’s formed a special bond with Neal, with whom he once battled for the Colonels’ starting quarterback spot. “We’re best friends,” Yurish said. “We hang out with each other 24-7. … We work all offseason because we want to be great.
“We’ve just grown so much closer,” he added. “Sometimes, I know what he wants to do and sometimes he knows what I want to do.”
The relationship has certainly paid dividends on the field. Yurish had 46 catches for 1,077 yards and eight touchdowns as a junior and he’s on pace to top those numbers this season.
“Aidric took the role of wide receiver and he’s made the most of it,” James Wood coach Todd Wilson said. “He was a 1,000-yard receiver last year and he’s pushing close to it again this year. That’s a phenomenal career in high school football.”
Before Neal and Yurish could start an outstanding evening, the James Wood defense made the first big play. On Liberty’s second snap, a big hit forced a fumble and defensive lineman Matrim Ray recovered at the Liberty 31.
“That was awesome,” linebacker Logan Lafollette said. “That really set the tone and we set the tone from there. That’s all we talk about on defense is turnovers and flying to the football. Once we got that fumble, it like lit a fire in us. We just wanted to keep doing it and putting our offense back on the field.”
Three plays later, Neal hit Yurish with a quick pass over the middle and the receiver shook two tackles as he cut left and scored on a 25-yard play. Draven Hernandez’s first of eight extra points made the score 7-0 less than two minutes into the game.
“It was a little pop screen,” Yurish said of the play. “I had it open and I just made a few people miss and scored a touchdown.”
After a fourth-down stop by the defense, the Colonels drove 65 yards in five plays. Neal found Yurish over the middle cutting left and Yurish powered through two tackle attempts and ran over a defensive back at the goal line to make it 14-0 at the 6:39 mark.
After the defense forced a three-and-out, the Colonels went 54 yards with wideout Xavier Price sweeping right after taking a handoff to make it 21-0.
Liberty took advantage of the Colonels’ only turnover, an interception by Patrick Corbin at the James Wood 26, to slice into its deficit midway through the second quarter. On fourth-and-goal from the 3, quarterback Sam Ryman found Ariyan Hull out of the backfield for a touchdown pass to make the score 21-7.
The Colonels would quickly respond. Neal’s 28-yard scramble on fourth-and-10 pushed the lead to 28-7 and he would hook up once again before the break with Yurish.
On second down from the Liberty 26, Neal lofted a jump ball toward Yurish, who had one-on-one coverage. Yurish was able to go up and wrestle the ball away from Corbin for the touchdown that gave the Colonels a 34-7 lead at the break.
“Owen has always been told to trust your guy one-on-one,” Yurish said. “I’ve always known I’m one of his guys. I knew something was coming up. I saw [Corbin] jump early, so I jumped a little bit later than him and went up and took the ball out of his hands.”
Wilson said that catch was a prime example of Yurish’s intangibles, which can’t measured by a stopwatch.
“When you turn on the film, he’s not going to be the fastest kid on the field, but he’s still making plays,” Wilson said. “There’s something to be said for running routes and having good strong hands. There’s guys at every level of football — high school, college, the NFL — who make a good living at running really good routes and having really strong hands. That’s what he does.”
The Colonels opened the second half by scoring on another big fourth-down play. On fourth-and-14 from the Liberty 29, Neal lofted a ball to Price, who was able to get a foot down in the right corner of the end zone to make it 41-7.
Dane Tews starred in the next series, an 80-yard march. Tews rushed three times for 37 yards and took a short swing pass, busting several tackles, for 44 yards. His 8-yard TD run through a gaping hole pushed the margin to 48-7.
After the defense held on fourth down, James Wood went 39 yards to score one more time in the third quarter. On a variation of the running play that Price scored on in the first half, Neal kept the ball and found Yurish wide open in the back of the end zone.
That toss finished Neal’s night. The senior was 14 of 24 for 233 yards and led the Colonels with 78 yards on nine carries.
Many of James Wood’s defensive starters would have the fourth quarter off as Liberty scored twice. Still, the Colonels held the Eagles to 168 total yards and helped avenge a one-point loss in Bealeton last season.
“The whole week we were all thinking about it,” Lafollette said. “The past two times we’ve gone down there [to Liberty] we’ve lost to them. That’s all we were thinking about was trying to beat them and that’s what we did.”
“It was a bounce-back week,” Wilson said for his defense. “We took it a little personal last week. We knew that wasn’t our best effort. But again, hat’s off to Millbrook. Nick Manuel is doing a really good job with that program and they had a good game plan for us. We needed to execute better.”
Liberty got to within 55-15 on a 16-yard TD run by Corbin Shepard and Ryman’s two-point conversion pass. James Wood’s backups also scored with Cam Daniels making a nice cut on a 31-yard scamper. Liberty’s James Ramirez Ceballos ran 33 yards for a TD on the game’s final play.
The Colonels have a bye week before next traveling to Handley on Oct. 31.
“There’s definitely things we can improve on,” Yurish said. “I’m not going to say any team is perfect because we are definitely not. We’re going to keep moving on week by week.”
Wilson said the bye week comes with the Colonels nursing a few bumps and bruises, but no major injuries. He likes what he’s seen from his squad thus far.
“I love these kids,” he said. “It’s a great group. They are fun to coach. They work hard and they’re dedicated. … If they worked the same way and our record was .500, I would still be proud of them. It’s just their character, how hard they work and strive to be the best they can be. I’m extremely proud of where we are right now.”