By: Garrett Mitchell, Staff Writer | garrett@thewoodrufftimes.com
Once the Woodruff football train was rolling, there was simply no stopping it.
To get the locomotive in gear, though, took an uncomfortably long time. The Wolverines trailed Emerald 22-0, and the Vikings possessed the ball with under four minutes to play in the first half. Woodruff was dead in the water and needed something, anything, to get them going.
Reserve defensive back Addison Davis lit the fuse.
Davis picked off a Viking pass near midfield, and his return set the Wolverines up inside the Emerald 30-yard line. A Jaylen Lyles touchdown run would punctuate the sequence and send both teams to the locker room with the Vikings leading the Wolverines 22-7.
It was a mere flicker, but what happened in the second half would rage into a football inferno. Woodruff outscored Emerald 43-0 over the final two quarters, and 50 unanswered points overall, and left a stunned Vikings squad in their wake.
“We just settled down and followed our plan to win,” said Woodruff head coach Brett Sloan. “Be more physical, don’t turn the ball over, and win special teams. Once we started doing that, everything else fell into place. It starts and ends with that for us.”
Early on, things looked dire. Emerald scored twice within their first four offensive snaps. A 27-yard run by Chris Dean following a long pass, and a 73-yard deep strike from Vikings quarterback Beau Hite to Camelle Hill had the Wolverines reeling.
While the Woodruff offense was stuck in place, Emerald would cap a 10-play drive midway through the second quarter with a two-yard touchdown run from defensive lineman Marquise Anderson to take a three-touchdown lead.
Then the improbable happened.
Following the late first-half score, the Wolverines’ defense began the second half by forcing an Emerald punt, and from there it was off to the races. Quarterback Connor Davis capped a three-play drive with a 14-yard run to cut the Emerald lead to 22-14. Following a fumble on the ensuing Emerald drive that was recovered by the Wolverines, Aiden Gibson punctuated the series with a 13-yard burst up the middle. The two-point conversion failed, but with the score now 22-20, the Vikings’ momentum was gone and not coming back.
A favorite target of Davis all night, senior wide receiver Kori Moates would book Woodruff’s following two scores. A shovel pass from Davis on third and goal would give Woodruff their first lead at 27-22 with 3:03 to play in the third quarter, and on the second play of the fourth quarter on the next Woodruff drive, Davis dropped a 65-yard dime to Moates for the score, which effectively broke the Vikings’ backs.
“(At halftime) our coaches just told us to have faith,” said Moates. “For some reason, it’s always a close game (against Emerald). I just gave it all to God. My opportunity came, and I ran with it.”
From there, the defense pinned back their ears and teed off on Hite and the Emerald offense. Travon Lee, Jordan Hood, Adrian Hill, and Shaun ‘War Daddy’ Graybill brought pressure time and again, with Hite eventually opting to go down himself rather than be hit again. As shocking as the first half was, the second half was incredible for far better reasons.
“We talked all week about playing fast and physical,” Hood said. “We did that in the second half and were able to finish.”
Woodruff held Emerald to just 61 total yards of offense in the second half, and as a team, the Vikings rushed for only 76 yards. Hite bore the brunt, netting minus 26 yards on the ground as he was sacked three times by the Wolverines’ relentless pass rush.
“I just told the guys to do their jobs,” said Graybill about his message to teammates. “Do your job, be more physical, and don’t turn the ball over. It’s as simple as that.”
Hill added, “Tonight just shows how hard we worked over the summer. We put in the work and the hours. We knew coming out (of halftime), we know how to go. Even if we’re down, we trust in the game plan, our coaches, and we trust each other. It’s all going to work out in the end.”
Gibson electrified the stadium with a 43-yard touchdown run, and Davis connected with Kayden Barnaby on a 17-yard pass to cap the scoring in the fourth period. From down 22-0 to a 50-22 victory, it was a 72-point swing for Woodruff in just over two quarters of play.
Davis finished 19-30 passing for 245 yards and three scores. Moates caught 11 passes for 154 yards, and Gibson carried the ball 18 times for a season-high 132 yards.
Woodruff outgained Emerald 439-281 on the night.
“We had a lot of guys contribute,” stated Sloan. “Kori made a lot of big plays, and Connor really grew up in the second half. He’s coming along. Aiden did a good job of leading. Kam did a good job of leading.
We have faith in God that he’s in control and he’s writing this story, and if we control what we put in, then he controls what comes out of it. I think we did that tonight. I’m proud of these guys and love them to death.”
Author: gmitchell85
