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[Lynn Burke]

Woodside rallies, knocks off Maury

By JENNIFER L. WILLIAMS | jwilliams@dailypress.com

NEWPORT NEWS - Down 16-0 to Maury in the first half, Woodside looked headed for a long night. But the Wolverines reversed course.

They scored four unanswered touchdowns the rest of the way to beat Maury 28-16 Friday night at Todd Stadium. Woodside (2-0) next plays Peninsula District power Phoebus, while Maury (0-2) lost to its second PD opponent in two weeks.

Woodside scored late in the second half on quarterback Aaron Evans’ 45-yard bomb to Michael Ruckman to make it 16-7. A trip down to the Maury 11-yard line ended in a turnover just before halftime, but momentum had shifted.

“We got a good spark right there at the end of the first half, we got a touchdown pass and almost had another one down there at the end,” said Woodside coach Danny Dodson. “We kept telling the kids just to keep hammering away, we’re going to hope that we’ll be able to wear them down and pull ahead. And we did.”

Woodside recovered a Maury fumble on the Commodores’ first possession of the second half and drove 50 yards to take its first lead, 16-14, on Josue Camsmith’s 3-yard run with 7:15 left.
Woodside added scores on quick drives early in the fourth quarter. Evans connected with Teneza Wyatt on a 51-yard touchdown pass and Jarrell Cooper for a 20-yarder.

Evans, a sophomore and first-year starter, passed for 128 yards on just four completions. He was also his team’s leading rusher with 93 yards on 12 carries.

This was a matchup of outstanding lines with Maury’s 315-pound Vinston Painter representing the biggest challenge. Woodside’s Daryl Cooper stood toe-to-toe with him most of the night and was beaming afterwards.

“He moved me, but as long as I stood low I got him,” Cooper said. “Most of the time I was on his side.”

Cooper acknowledged his team’s slow start and tenacity.
“We came back with our heart—we knew we weren’t going to lose this game,” he said. “Our second team stepped up players stepped up. Teneza Wyatt got a little touchdown. My brother, Jarrell, stepped up.

“And Aaron did an awesome job tonight, just taking over the offense and being a leader. And the o-line just did what we did like always—block, throw people down, hit people, make ‘em mad, scratch ‘em up, all that other stuff.”

Dodson won’t get a breath before facing Phoebus, but got encouraging signs from this performance.

“That shows a little bit about the character of the kids,” Dodson said. “There’s been teams in that past we’ve had that would just shut down and might have gotten beat by 40. These guys just kept on hanging in there.”

WOODSIDE 28, MAURY 16
Maury 10;6;0;0;16
Woodside 0;7;7;14;28
Mau—Tcheati 29 FG
Mau—Branche 17 run (Tcheati kick)
Mau—Henry 2 run (kick failed)
Woo—Ruckman 45 pass from Evans (Duhamel kick)
Woo—Camsmith 3 run (Duhamel kick)
Woo-Wyatt 51 pass from Evans (Duhamel kick)
Woo—Cooper 20 pass from Evans (Duhamel kick)
;Mau;Woo
First downs;12;13
Rushes-yards;22-101;42-190
Passing yards;191;128
Comp-Att-Int;10-26-1;4-15-0
Penalties-yards;14-120;5-43
Fumbles-lost;2-1;4-3
Punts-avg.;5-29.8;6-32.3

[twiceasnice757]

UH OH- the district better watch out for those wolverines.. it should be a dandy this friday when they meet phoebus..woodside could arguably have the biggest/strongest line in the district..they have a strong ground attack, and after fridays performance against maury, the qb evans should be beaming with confidence (128 pass yards on 4 completions- 93 rush yards)..just don't be surprised if woodside is able to do what bethel could not- UPSET CITY BABY

[Ripklaw]

Originally Posted by twiceasnice757

UH OH- the district better watch out for those wolverines.. it should be a dandy this friday when they meet phoebus..woodside could arguably have the biggest/strongest line in the district..they have a strong ground attack, and after fridays performance against maury, the qb evans should be beaming with confidence (128 pass yards on 4 completions- 93 rush yards)..just don't be surprised if woodside is able to do what bethel could not- UPSET CITY BABY

...as long as the Woodside players are not highsiding looking all in the stands to see if they are being seen,doing high fives in between plays and just play football...you just might be right

[pigskin_fan]

The Wolverines are for real!! They played a great 2nd half of football on Friday. After being dominated during the 1st quarter coach Dodson and his staff made some great adjustments on both sides of the ball to be able to shut down Maury as well as to begin to move the Wolverine offense down the field. Sophmore quarterback Aaron Evans showed great poise and decision making ability in accounting for over 200 yds of total offense. That big experienced offensive line will really need to step it up this week vs. the Phantoms. It should be a good game especially if Woodside can come out and play in the first half like they did in the 2nd half against Maury.