Richlands looks to stop Woodrum

RICHLANDS, Va. — There’s no place for comfort on a football field, especially for an opposing quarterback with quick feet and a rifle for an arm.

Those attributes describe Cave Spring signal-caller Josh Woodrum.

‘We have got to make him uncomfortable,” Richlands head coach Greg Mance said. “When the ball is snapped, he has got to be unsure what coverage we’re in and then we’ve got to move around and get pressure on him because if he gets comfortable, we’re in for a long night.

“There is no other way around it. The kid throws the ball too well, and they’ve got too many receivers for us to give him time to throw.”

Containing Woodrum will be key tonight as five-time defending Region IV champion Richlands (10-1) travels to Dwight Bogle Stadium in Roanoke to face Cave Spring (9-2) for the Region IV, Division 3 championship. Kickoff is slated for 7:30 p.m.

All that’s at stake is a berth in the Division 3 state semifinals the following weekend against either Liberty-Bedford or Northside.

“The last time we won a state championship (in ‘06) we went through Dwight Bogle Stadium (against Hidden Valley) so it’s not that big of a deal to go on the road,” Mance said. “We are going to bring more people than most teams’ home side so it’s like playing a home game down the road.

“We’re going to have a great following there Friday night. I expect it to be packed on both sides and it should be a great high school football game.”

Every coach likes to expound on the virtues of their opponent, but Mance can go for a while on the Knights, who are led by Woodrum, who has thrown for 1,809 yards, 12 touchdowns and seven interceptions.

“Their quarterback is going to play on Saturdays, if you give him time he’s going to pick you apart.” Mance said. “He’s got a quick release, he’s got quick feet, he is elusive too so he’s a threat to run it too.

“It’s like watching yourself play and that’s what we try to get to. Our quarterbacks have got to be able to run the football for us to be effective and they do a great job of that at Cave Spring.”

Richlands isn’t bad at throwing the ball either. Cody Johnson has accounted for 28 touchdowns, including 16 through the air for the Tornado, throwing for 1,165 yards, and he’s also run for 596 yards and 12 scores.

Johnson’s favorite targets are Austin Johnson (21-533, 7 td) and Bradley Strong (24-458, 5 td).

“Cody is a lot smaller (than Woodrum), but the thing I like about Cody is he’s got that competitive drive that is second to none,” Mance said. “The first thing I noticed about Cody when I watched him was how much of a competitor he was, and he likes to win and he competes. You can’t teach that, that is instilled in him.”

Sam Wright leads Cave Spring with 777 yards rushing and has matched Woodrum with eight touchdowns, while Michael Cole has added 12 scores on the ground. Erik Jacobson, all 6-foot-4 of him, leads the Knights with 36 catches for 464 yards and two scores, while 5-8 Quentin Dill (33-614) has six touchdowns through the air.

“They are very athletic, they’re very tall, the receivers are 6-4, 6-2, the quarterback is 6-2, they’ve just got some tall kids and they run well,” Mance said. “They’re very athletic, they’re well-coached, they like to audible at the line of scrimmage so that gives you trouble and their quarterback throws the ball as good as anybody we have seen, he’s the real deal.”

Richlands is led on the ground by sophomore Devon Johnson, who has run for 1,058 yards and 13 scores for the Blues. Austin Johnson has added 286 yards and five touchdowns, and he’s also returned three punts and a kick for six points apiece.

“We want to win the time of possession in this one..,” Mance said. “We have got to win the time of possession and we’ve got to win the turnover battle and those are going to be two crucial things to look at at the end of the ball game. Cave Spring is so explosive that we’ve got to eliminate the big play and if we can do those three things I like our chances.”

Defensively, the Knights have been led by Cole with 82 tackles, including 10 for loss, while Cray Webb (5-7, 250) has 80 stops, including 20 for negative yardage. Six-foot-4 Alex Berry (5) and Tyler Kemp (4) lead Cave Spring in sacks, while Jacobsen and Dill have four interceptions apiece.

Richlands isn’t big, they are productive and active, led by linebacker Cody Thomas, who has 89 tackles and Will Lowe, who has 58 stops, 11 tackles for loss and nine sacks. Cody Johnson has seven sacks, while Strong, Sean Overton and Albert Fajardo have four interceptions apiece.

That unit must pressure the quarterback or Woodrum could take advantage of the smaller Richlands defensive backs.

“It’s going to be crucial, we’ve got to get pressure, there is no doubt about that,” Mance said. “There is two things we have got to do defensively, number one is we’ve got to confuse the quarterback and we’ve got to disguise some stuff, and the second thing is we’ve got to get pressure on the quarterback.”

While Richlands has won 10 straight games since a season-opening 10-7 loss to Gate City, Cave Spring’s lone defeats were to Division 4 foes Salem (42-0) and Hidden Valley (28-21), a game the Knights led 21-0.

The Tim Fulton-coached Knights, who were 2-8 in each of the last two seasons, had last reached the playoffs in 2005. They’ve got wins this season over Northside (10-7) and Christiansburg (21-14), two teams still playing this weekend in regional title games.

“That tells you what kind of football team we’re going up against,” Mance said.

While Cave Spring thrashed Graham 42-0 last Friday, the Blues defeated Marion 31-10, playing an inspired second half after leading 10-7 at the break.

“The second half was probably the best we played all year, special teams, offense, defense, everybody was clicking,” Mance said. “The defense was flying around and the offense was executing extremely well and we played pretty well against a good football team.

“On offense and defense, I really thought we were as sharp as we have been this year.”

Being in a regional title game is nothing new for the Blues, who have already won their sixth straight Southwest District title, and Richlands is now looking for its sixth Region IV crown in a row, a streak dating back to 2004.

“It’s tough because people take it for granted down here, but when you start looking at how many region championships Richlands had played for since 1970, you could almost count them on one hand,” Mance said. “Now here we are and this is our sixth in a row.

“We just feel blessed. We’ve had some great football players with a great work ethic and a great group of assistant coaches.”

—Contact Brian Woodson

at bwoodson@bdtonline.com

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