Three times Woodberry Forest receiver Christian Asher crossed the goal line on a first half Woodberry Forest drive. But only one counted as the first two came back for penalties and after finally tallying a score, Asher vomited before coming back into the game.
“I was dying,” Asher said. “I was sprinting back and forth. But it was good they kept going to me.”
It was that kind of day for the Tigers as they overcame obstacle after obstacle to hold on to an early three-touchdown to lead and beat Benedictine 21-7.
Plagued be penalties and unable to put the Cadets away for good after a fast start by the offense, Woodberry’s defense managed to preserve the win by holding Benedictine to just 227 yards of total offense. The Tigers’ front seven, led by Spencer Bibb in his first action as a defensive lineman after playing offense for Woodberry in past years, harassed usually productive Benedictine quarterback Bryce Hamilton into a 12-for-27 performance for 144 yards.
Bibb looked the part for someone in his first action, knifing through the line like former Tiger and current N.C. State player Rogers Clark did during his time at Woodberry.
“I’ve got to give a lot of credit my d-line coach, coach (Alex) Tisch, he’s worked with me a ton on technique,” Bibb said. “Rogers is probably the guy I look up to as a player but mostly as a leader, more than anyone. If I could emulate a Woodberry grad, it’d be Rogers Clark. I don’t want to have a weakness that anyone can look at.”
The offense did its part too, especially early on when the Tigers bounced out to a 21-0 lead starting with a James Hewell touchdown that capped the 8-yard opening drive. Asher’s score followed and then H.T. Minor ripped off a 48-yard scoring run.
“I’m just real proud of (offensive coaches) Ryan (Alexander) and Brian (Stephenson), they’ve both done a great job,” Woodberry coach Clint Alexander said. “They had a great plan and we knew what we had to do. We’d go through practice and throw 25 balls and drop two so I thought we were doing okay. We thought we could come out and do what we did — we could work the edges and get them moving around a little bit.”
The Tigers were as balanced as they’ve been in years, with Hunter Etheridge efficiently running the offense that threw for 179 yards and ran for 215. Etheridge went 17 for 21 on a mix of medium length passes and a dizzying array of bubble screens. He connected with 10 different receivers, making life tough on the Benedictine secondary.
“He was working all summer long and the game showed it,” Asher said. “He can really throw the ball so that helps a lot.”
Hewell provided the power for the offense at tailback, carrying 17 times for 94 yards and his touchdown. Hewell was never stopped for negative yards and picked up more than 10 three different times.
The offense moved the ball in the second half, particularly on their first drive, but struggled to score and committed a couple of key turnovers that gave Benedictine life. The Woodberry defense proved up to the task though, and clamped down on the Cadets late.
The Tigers moved to 1-0 on the year and will hit the road again next week to face off against Liberty Christian in Lynchburg.
