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Woodberry tops McDonogh with late rally

WOODBERRY FOREST — For three quarters, Woodberry trailed McDonogh, and the Eagles out of Maryland looked like the superior squad. But that all changed in five plays.

The Tigers rallied from a 12-point deficit to snag a 23-21 victory against a talented McDonogh squad.

After some defensive adjustments allowed Woodberry to all but shut down the McDonogh offense in the second half, an offense that went dormant after an early touchdown woke up. The defense forced a McDonogh punt early in the fourth and in five plays with a combination Ed Reynolds, Ade Oyalowo and Alex Hagood running the ball, Woodberry found itself on the Eagles’ 5-yard line.

That’s when Hagood, the Tigers’ senior quarterback, made a solid playfake to Oyalowo passing through the backfield on an endaround and waltzed untouched into the endzone on the naked bootleg.

“We put it in Friday,” Alexander said. “I felt like we needed it and I told the kids I was kicking myself in the pants for not having it.”

On the ensuing McDonogh possession, a pair of incomplete passes by Buffalo commitment Rudy Johnson and a run-stuffing tackle by Woodberry’s Travis Houston forced the Eagles to punt. The longsnap sailed over the punter’s head and bounded back to the Woodberry 1-yardline, setting the Tigers up at first and goal.

Four downs later, after three failed runs by Hagood, Reynolds and Oyalowo, Woodberry finally took advantage when Hagood found Eliot Nelson for a 5-yard touchdown and the 23-21 lead.

The Tigers’ defense took over from there.

McDonogh hurt Woodberry in the first half with several draws and traps that neutralized the Tigers’ talented defensive line. But in the second half, Duke Mosby and Aramide Olaniyan swapped spots up front, with Olaniyan moving to noseguard and Mosby outside to the end spot. It was a subtle defensive change for the Tigers, but with Woodberry Forest cornerbacks Ed Reynolds and JT Hornyak keeping McDonogh’s two most talented wide receivers in check, it wasn’t going to take much.

“They were doubling Duke and running away from Aramide so we flipflopped them,” Alexander said. “That’s when we got the holding call and they started lining up offsides because they were trying to take away his speed.”

And because of the change, McDonogh’s offense began sputtering in the second half, and the Woodberry defense took the pressure to another level after Nelson’s score.

On second down of the ensuing drive, the speedy, resilient Johnson evaded several Woodberry defenders including Olaniyan during a near 10-second scramble and eventually let loose a jumpball with a Tiger defender in his face. That drive ended in a punt, and Woodberry followed with another punt on its next possession. On McDonogh’s final drive, Drew Arnett provided the pressure on third and 10 to force a Johnson incompletion and Oyalowo broke up the fourth down pass to seal the win.

“I felt like that by that point our defense had figured out what we had to do and held what I think is probably one of the best quarterbacks we’ll see all year,” Alexander said.

Reynolds finished with 112 yards on 13 carries while Oyalowo had 46 yards on his 13 touches. Hagood only threw for 58 yards, but he was clutch in key situations.

The road doesn’t get any easier for the Tigers. Next week unbeaten Fork Union comes to town.

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