Daily Press reporter gives the low-down on Northwestern's Virginia opponent - Woodside High School

Woodside High School is making the lengthy trek from Newport News, Va., to play Northwestern on Friday night at District Three Stadium. Knowing very little about the Wolverines it seemed like a good idea to contact the school’s local paper and Daily Press reporter Kate Yanchulis to find out more about the out-of-towners.

Q: Why is Woodside is driving six hours for competition?

A: Both coaches and administrators at the school were all in on setting up this trip. They actually looked at a couple of different schools before joining up with Northwestern. Six hours is obviously a long way, a long time to be on a bus, but one of the things they said was they really wanted to give their players a unique experience, something similar to what a college athlete might have, instead of high school. Give them a taste of the big-time a little bit.

Q: What kind of program is Woodside?

A: Coach Danny Dodson said he wanted to see how Woodside stacked up against playoff-caliber teams early in the season. Woodside’s kind of been a contender the last few years but they haven’t been able to get over the hump of the first couple rounds of the playoffs. They’re hoping that being more battle-tested, especially early in the season, that that can help them push through.

The high school only opened in 1996, so it’s relatively a newcomer, especially for this area which has a lot of storied programs. They’ve been in the playoffs a lot but haven’t won any state championships.

Q: What sets Woodside apart? A defining characteristic?

A: Everybody here knows that they run a very specific offense called the wing-T. It’s very run-heavy and it looks like what you probably would have seen on an NFL field in the first half of the 20th century.

Q: Where is Newport News located?

A: On a peninsula in Virginia and it shares that peninsula with about nine other high schools. We’re in Hampton, which is right next door, so there are a lot of local rivalries. They share an 11,000-seat stadium with the four other Newport News high schools. We have Thursday, Friday and Saturday games.

Q: Who are Wolverines ball-carriers to keep an eye on?

A: Given the offense, the running back is something you guys are gonna want to watch out for. He’s a junior and his name is Tamir Walker. He’s only 5-8 and 165 pounds but he’s really fast; last year he had a thousand-yard season as a sophomore. Also the quarterback, Tyher Tyler. He’s also a junior and had to sit out the last two games of last year with a shoulder injury but before that he ran for 10 touchdowns. Lot of running from the quarterback.

This story was originally published August 27, 2015 at 12:11 PM with the headline "Daily Press reporter gives the low-down on Northwestern's Virginia opponent - Woodside High School."