Shorthanded Wolverines Experience First Setback of the Season Against Hurricanes
By: Garrett Mitchell. Staff Writer | garrett@thewoodrufftimes.com
It was not the best night for the Woodruff football team at Wren. The Wolverines, playing shorthanded, experienced their first setback of the season as the Hurricanes used a powerful rushing attack and physical defense to stymie Woodruff, 35-7.
Wren won the coin toss, electing to take the ball first, and marched down the field behind eight carries from junior running back Muntu Brown. The Hurricanes capped the trip on a 22-yard touchdown pass from Jacon Owings to Colby Mann on third and long for a 7-0 lead.
Woodruff would respond with their only score of the night. Connor Davis and Aiden Gibson led the Wolverines’ first drive inside the Wren 20-yard line, and on fourth down, Davis found a diving Skylar Barker in the endzone for the touchdown to knot the score at 7-7.
After the Hurricanes scored to retake the lead 14-7, the Wolverines appeared to pull off a momentum-shifting play. Lining up to punt inside their own 30-yard line, a direct snap to Gibson worked to perfection as the junior running back raced up the middle for a 58-yard gain to the Wren 20. That drive stalled, though, and came away with no points. From there, the Wolverines never recaptured control.
Wren took a 21-7 halftime lead, and the third quarter was scoreless as both defenses locked in, but the Hurricanes scored twice in the final stanza to pull away for good.
“We were really close to making it a fourth-quarter game in the second half, but kept getting in our own way on offense,” said Woodruff head coach Brett Sloan. “We’re going to do what we always do. We’re going to come in on Sunday, we’re going to lift, we’re going to watch film and make corrections, and trust the process. Wren is a good football team, and when you play a good football team, you have to make sure you’re buttoned up and ready to go. We weren’t tonight.”
Gibson led Woodruff offensively with 14 carries for 115 yards. Davis completed 11 passes for 87 yards, and Curtis Bell led all Wolverine receivers with four catches for 38 yards. Barker had two receptions for 28 to go along with his first career varsity touchdown.
Brown led all rushers with 29 carries for 201 yards for Wren. Owings was 13-23 passing for 228 yards and two scores.
The Wolverines begin region play this week, traveling to county rival Broome. Talking to his team after the game, Sloan urged his players to use the loss as a learning experience and to grow from it now that games will count towards playoff seeding.
“Our devotion this morning was about how to embrace adversity,” Sloan said. “Nick Saban always said Don’t waste a loss, and he’s the greatest that ever did it. There are certain lessons that strike home a little more when you get humbled and those are some of the lessons that we have to learn this week and we have to use it (to get better).”
Author: gmitchell85
