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Twice as nice: Warriors down rival Colonels again in playoffs
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By Ben Brooks -- sports@nvdaily.com
STEPHENS CITY -- It wasn't quite the same finish as two years ago, when Sherando stopped James Wood a yard short of the end zone to escape with a dramatic postseason football victory, but it didn't miss by much.
This time, the Warriors needed another defensive stand as time expired to edge their Frederick County rivals 13-7 in Friday night's Region II Division 4 semifinal at a packed Arrowhead Stadium.
Sherando (9-2), which now plays top-seed and defending state champion Broad Run in next week's region final, seemingly had things under control on the strength of two first-quarter touchdowns and a defense that intercepted three Trae Tinsman passes through 3 1/2 quarters. However, when the Colonels scored on Brock Lockhart 3-yard run with 2:14 left to play and then recovered the ensuing onside kick, things changed quickly.
"It's one of those plays you practice, but you've got to execute," Warriors coach Bill Hall said of the onside kick. "I think what it did was snap us into reality. Our defense really stepped up and made the commitment that they weren't going to let it happen when they could have easily allowed them to score."
James Wood (7-5) took over at the Warriors' 35-yard line following Joel McGreevy's recovery of Zach Lloyd's perfectly executed kick that at least three times bounced off of or slipped through the hands of a Sherando player. Five straight Lockhart runs took the Colonels down to Sherando's 3, but a holding penalty moved Wood back to the 17 with 23 seconds left.
Two incomplete passes and a sack left James Wood with fourth-and-goal from the 20 with two seconds remaining. And when Dimitri Luck deflected a pass at the goal line into the waiting hands of teammate Ryan Kanatus, the Warriors could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
"I just remember seeing the ball tipped and diving to get it," said Kanatus, who had two interceptions on the night to go along with 62 rushing yards and the game's first touchdown.
"I was in man coverage," Luck said. "I went with my receiver. When I saw the quarterback look at him, I just made a jump on the ball."
James Wood controlled most of the second half, but couldn't take advantage of opportunities. Four times the Colonels drove into Sherando territory and came away with nothing. The first resulted in a punt, the second a failed fourth-down conversion, and the final two interceptions. Even so, James Wood still had a chance at the end, and that's all the Colonels could have asked for.
"We never gave up," said Lockhart, who rushed for a game-high 124 rushing yards on 31 carries and finished the season with a school-record 2,018 on the ground. "My brother always tells me to keep your cool and things will change eventually. And as soon as it does change, you can hit it big."
Sherando hit it big in the early going. Playing perhaps its best offensive football of the season, the Warriors scored on their first two possessions to take a 13-0 lead. Kanatus' 4-yard touchdown run capped an 11-play, 69-yard drive and put Sherando up 6-0. Following the first of Kanatus' interceptions, the Warriors drove 59 yards in eight plays to strike again. Jalen Brisco's wide receiver screen to Dalton Boyd turned into a 28-yard scoring pass that put Sherando ahead 13-0 with 53 seconds left in the first quarter.
Had Wood's Cody Winstead not recovered Tre Porter's fumble at Wood's 24 with just over a minute left in the first half, things might have gotten out of hand. As it was, despite being outgained 182-56 in total yards through two quarters, the Colonels were still just two scores away from a second straight postseason upset.
"No matter what the score is, this team never quits," said James Wood coach Mike Bolin, whose team edged Loudoun County 27-25 for the school's first playoff win since 1970. "They don't know what that is. We knew we could play with them. They're a very good team, but we never got away from what we do well."
The final statistics were as close as the game, with Sherando holding a tiny 232-229 total offense advantage and the Colonels keeping the ball for one more minute.
Hall didn't expect anything different. Earlier this season, the Warriors edged the Colonels 21-17. And of course there was that memorable 21-14 come-from-behind playoff victory two years ago that helped propel the Warriors to the state title game.
"It was a huge challenge for us, especially with it being the second time playing a team," Hall said. "You've got a team over there trying to get revenge. But the way our kids responded says a lot about this team."
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