Smith Scores 3 TD's, Warriors Win 44-20
Roger Smith, Jr. continued to impress with his performance against the Hawks.
Photo By: Jeff Schryver Photography
Derrick Dehaney had a touchdown catch and completed a pass on a botched field goal attempt.
Photo By: Jeff Schryver Photography
Ross Metheny came up big with 2 second half touochdown passes, one to Derrick Dehaney and the other to Dalton Boyd.
Photo By: Jeff Schryver Photography
FRONT ROYAL, VA - Both the Sherando Warriors and Skyline Hawks entered Friday's contest needing wins to stay alive in the Northwestern District race. There was plenty of posturing by both teams before the game even began in Front Royal. The Hawks were introduced first to the home crowd and then proceeded to stay on the field around the 50 yard line to prevent the Warriors from "planting" the spear. Skyline then sent out their entire team behind their captains for the coin toss. These initial moments of interaction between the two squads was only a preview of the game that was about to take place.
After the Sherando defense held on both 2nd and 3rd down to force the first punt of the game it was Kadeem Blackwood who got things started in this one. Blackwood let the Hawks punt bounce and almost die at his own 29 yard line before picking it up and racing untouched through the Skyline coverage team for the first score of the game with 7:43 to play in the opening quarter. The Hawks were able to bounce back immediately, driving the length of the field to tie the game up on a Kieren Caison 15 yard touchdown run. The drive featured 2 catches by Andrew Thorne, including a deep pass from Nathaniel White that netted 31 yards. The game was tied with 4:54 remaining in the 1st quarter.
After the two teams traded possessions and ends on the field it was the Warriors taking their next drive the distance for a touchdown. The drive featured a heavy dose of Roger Smith, Jr. who carried the ball 10 times for 62 yards on the 11 play drive. Skyline made one key error on the drive when they were called for a 15 yard facemask against Smith, Jr. With 8:20 to go in the opening half of play the Warriors had the 14-7 lead.
Sherando's defense did its job against the Hawks offense yet again forcing another punt. Coach Hall and the Warriors went back to Roger Smith, Jr. to get the job done on offense. Smith carried 5 times on the drive for 43 yards. The biggest play of the drive actually came when Derrick Dehaney made a heads up play on the 29 yard field goal attempt by Lukas Stump. The snap to Dehaney was high and he came out of the holder's position and found Shawn Branham at the Skyline 1 yard line for a first down. After the Warriors were assessed a false start penalty it was Smith, Jr. capping off the drive with his second score of the game.
On the Hawks next possession it was the Warriors defense making the plays. Sherando broke through the line on 1st down and forced White to throw outside the pocket. White found a man open and threw to him; unfortunately it was one of the offensive linemen for the Hawks, and thus a loss of down penalty which pushed the ball back to their own 8 yard line. Two more unsuccessful plays forced the Hawks to line up for a punt. Coach Heath Gilbert decided to take a chance and faked the punt to the up back, Keaton Neeb, who threw to Tyler Eddy, but Sherando had men in the right place and stopped the play well short of a 1st down, giving Sherando the ball inside the Hawks' 20 yard line. Ross Metheny would attempt to get the Warriors into the end zone via the two minute drill but was unsuccessful and had to give way to a Lukas Stump 34 yard field goal to put Sherando up 23-7 with only :21 left in the half. On the ensuing kickoff it was Tyler Eddy coming up with yet another big play in this game. Eddy took the Stump kickoff from his own 6 yard line and raced past the Sherando coverage team for a touchdown with only :04 on the clock. Skyline would attempt the 2-point conversion but were unsuccessful and the score remained 23-13 in favor of the Warriors at the half.
The teams came into the game with potent offenses, but neither really had impressive numbers at the half. Sherando was led by Roger Smith, Jr. who tallied 16 carries for 112 yards and the 2 touchdowns, Ross Metheny was only 2-5 for 19 yards (both to Derrick Dehaney). Skyline was led by Kieren Caison who carried the ball only 6 times for 16 yards and a score. Nathaniel White was only 2-7 for 44 yards (both to Andrew Thorne) and had 7 carries for 35 yards in the first half.
The 2nd half started with more big plays. On the very first play of the half Metheny was picked off by Terrell Matthews to give the Hawks good field position. Skyline tried to take advantage of the Sherando mistake through the air, but Nathaniel White was picked off by James Root at the goal line to give Sherando back the football at their own 10 yard line. The Warriors were unable to do anything productive with the football and were forced to give the ball back to the home standing Hawks. After two more unsuccessful possessions in the game it was the Sherando defense yet again making a big play. Nathaniel White dropped to pass and James Root jumped in front of the pass to give the Warriors the football inside the 25 yard line of the Hawks. This time it did not take Ross Metheny long to get his team into the end zone. On the first play of the drive Metheny took the shotgun snap and found Dalton Boyd in the back corner of the end zone for the 21 yard touchdown pass that put Sherando on top 30-13 with 9:30 to go in the game.
Down by 17 points the Skyline Hawks would not give up easily. Nathaniel White marched his team 80 yards in 11 plays and capped the drive with a 20 yard touchdown pass to Andrew Thorne. The score cut into the Warriors lead at 30-20 with only 4:01 left in the game. Skyline attempted the onside kick but was unsuccessful when the Warriors recovered on the Hawks 49 yard line. On 3rd down and 11 Metheny dropped back and found Derrick Dehaney wide open behind the secondary and Dehaney raced into the end zone for a Sherando touchdown. Dehaney's grab put the score 37-20 in favor of the Warriors with less than 3 minutes to play. Skyline would continue to try and throw the football on their next possession. This time it was Dimitri Luck coming away with the interception of White. Luck's interception would setup yet another Warriors touchdown when Roger Smith, Jr. plunged in from 6 yards out giving the Warriors the win 44-20.
Sherando will be home next Friday night against the James Wood Colonels with the game starting at 7:00PM. The game will be broadcast live online at www.GamedayMagazine.com. The Warriors defeated the Colonels two times last year and James Wood will be looking for revenge.
Velocity Sports Performance Players of the Game
Sherando: Roger Smith, Jr., Running Back
Smith, Jr. finished the night with 34 carries for 190 yards and 3 touchdowns to help the Warriors improve to 5-1 overall and 2-1 in the Northwestern District. Smith, Jr. has been a work horse for the Warriors all season long, and his ability to run the ball has taken pressure off Metheny to have to win games with his arm.
Skyline: Andrew Thorne, Wide Receiver
Thorne totaled 5 receptions for 99 yards and a touchdown. Thorne was able to get behind the Sherando secondary all game long. If Thorne would have caught a couple of the deep balls that fell just out of his reach the Hawks may have been able to defeat the Warriors, and Thorne would have easily topped 100 yards receiving.
