Va. AAA Patriot District Football
Big Saturday for W.T. Woodson
Defense Helps Woodson Continue Its Best Start Since 2004
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Sunday, October 18, 2009
With his football team playing on a Saturday for the first time since 2004, W.T. Woodson Coach Trey Taylor paid special attention this week to routine.
Whether it was Friday's walk-through practice that was moved to a turf field or a team dinner at Noodles & Company, Taylor wanted his players to prepare as if they were playing T.C. Williams on a Friday night.
And then a rainy Saturday came and that plan was sort of shelved.
Despite fumbling seven times and racking up more punt yardage than total offense, W.T. Woodson pulled out a 20-6 win in Alexandria. The triumph was made possible by the Cavaliers' defense, which didn't allow a first down after the eight-minute mark of the first quarter.
"It's just something about rain," senior linebacker Josh Hogan said. "You're like, 'Ah, it's going to be cold and rainy,' but then you just start having fun."
W.T. Woodson (6-1) is off to its best start since that 2004 season, when it won the Northern Region Division 5 championship. The Cavaliers (3-1 in the Virginia AAA Patriot District) host West Springfield on Friday. T.C. Williams (3-4, 1-3) will host West Potomac on Saturday.
The teams combined for 34 offensive possessions, with 21 resulting in a punt after only three plays. The teams punted a total of 20 times and had 13 first downs between them.
Still, W.T. Woodson leaned on its defense for several momentum-shifting plays. In the second quarter, Hogan tackled T.C. Williams punter Matt Crawley deep in his own territory and James Johnson scored from 10 yards out on the next play.
After Hogan's fourth-quarter interception gave W.T. Woodson possession on the Titans 25-yard line, Jonathon Stokes (21 carries, 119 yards) scored four plays later on a five-yard run to push W.T. Woodson ahead by two scores with less than three minutes to go in the game.
"The defense carried the team this week," said quarterback Connor Reilly, who was 9 of 20 for a season-low 58 yards. "It's a victory and it's what we wanted. It wasn't pretty, but the defense helped us."
W.T. Woodson 20, T.C Williams 6 Quick Strike: On T.C. Williams's second play from scrimmage, running back Cortez Taylor broke free through the right side of the line and scampered for a 61-yard touchdown, pushing the Titans ahead early, 6-0. Struggle in the Slop: In the third quarter alone, the two teams combined for 10 possessions but only six yards of total offense. W.T. Woodson's Bertrand Ngampa scored a 27-yard touchdown run but penalties and other busted plays contributed to the odd total.
