After gutting out a tough win to start the year, Woodberry Forest came up just short of doing the same in the previous two weeks against Blair (New Jersey) and Liberty Christian. On Friday against Paul VI, the Tigers looked entirely different than they had all year — they found that missing rhythm on offense.
“My nephew Ryan (Alexander, the Tigers’ offensive coordinator) suggested this and we really haven’t used him right yet, but our best offensive player is our quarterback,” said Woodberry coach Clint Alexander. “Heys McMath probably has struggled with (fellow quarterback) Jacob Rainey’s injury more than anyone because they did everything together. He’s worn that the hardest and it was nice to finally see him get out there and have fun and sling it around. We’ve got a lot of kids that can catch you so have to cover them all.”
McMath was hitting his receivers on all kinds of routes, whether deep, short or on checkdowns. Then running backs Christian Asher and Hunter Faulconer were finding holes and grinding out yards after contact. Those two elements combined with the usual stout Woodberry defense and special teams units resulted in a much more confident looking Tigers team, and it showed on the scoreboard as they handed the visitng Panthers a 34-14 defeat.
“I love that our players and coaching staff are smart enough that it allows us to do some interesting things,” Alexander said. “We really had to work this week to deal with their offense and plug holes with bodies because with the injuries, we’re as thin as we’ve ever been. That was big, but then so was the offense.”
While the first half was solid for Woodberry, it was the team in the second half that looked like the defending Prep League champions. An adjustment on defense helped the Tigers’ defense led by Rogers Clark completely run over Paul VI’s offensive line to keep them scoreless for the last 24 minutes of play.
“We started out with a blitz-peel where ends just blew the play up but we had to change that because they added a little fullback screen that caught us,” Clark said. “In the second half, we made the fullback one of the DE’s responsibility and we had four sacks just because that play was covered.”
While it was Clark that was piling up the tackles and sacks, the Elizabethtown, NC native threw the credit to fellow linemen and linebackers Cameron Wooster, Wilson Craig, John Williams and Teddy Szyperski.
“Honestly, I couldn’t have done any of it without them, they were great all game,” Clark said.
Much like he did against Benedictine, C.J. Prosise provided a major spark on a punt return for a touchdown. Early in the third quarter the Notre-Dame commit fielded the ball at midfield and had a Paul VI defender grab him by the jersey, but somehow Prosise spun out of it and bolted loose down the right side of the field to turn what was a one possession game at the half into a 13-point lead.
From that moment on, Woodberry suffocated the Panthers on both the ground and through the air. Clark and company clamped down on the run game and Prosise came up with an interception when Paul VI looked to capitalize in the passing game.
But at the end of the day this contest came down to McMath’s transformation. The junior signal caller ran for 22 yards and two touchdowns, threw for 254 yards on 24 for 36 passing and hit Henry Holmes in the fourth quarter for a four yard strike to make it 34-14 and put the game out of reach.
“This week we really wanted to play on our strengths,” McMath said. “I thought we had a good script this week — we spread the ball out and passed it a lot but also ran the ball really well. Everyone played really well and the play calls were great. It was a lot more comfortable.”
Asher and Faulconer both ran for more than eight yards per carry with Asher leading the way on 109 yards on 12 carries and Faulconer picking up 58 yards on his seven touches.
It was Asher that broke open the scoring in the first quarter when he punched in a 9-yard run. McMath made it 14-0 in the first on his first rushing touchdown of the game, a 4-yard run.
The Panthers played their best football in the second. A long drive capped by a 4-yard Zach Yuell run in made it a 6-point game, however Woodberry struck back on its ensuing drive with an equally lengthy drive and McMath’s second rushing strike of the game. Inside of two minutes left in the half, Paul VI was able to move the ball downfield with its passing game, most notably on a broken play in which quarterback TJ Tutone avoided a sack with a pitch that resulted in a 20-yard gain. The Panthers managed the clock and worked down to the goal line where Ray Geier was able to make good on a play-action pass from Tutone for a 4-yard touchdown reception to make it a 6-point game again.
Of course, everything changed when the Tigers took the field again in the second half.
Woodberry (2-2) has a short week as they travel to Collegiate, last year’s VISAA Division 1 runnerup, on Thursday at 4 p.m.
