Northwestern football drops Virginia school

Woodside High coach Danny Dodson and his Wolverines traveled six and a half hours from Newport News, Va. to learn a valuable lesson: They have what it takes to compete with some of South Carolina’s best, but winning is a different story.

The 47-23 end result doesn’t tell the full story of a game that was 20-10 after the first half with Northwestern struggling to subdue the Wolverines.

“We played our tails off and we got beat by a real good football team,” Dodson said. “And we knew coming down that they were a good football team. That’s why we wanted to play them.”

The Trojans scored on their first two offensive plays, the first coming on a 1-yard run by quarterback Gage Moloney after a botched Woodside punt left the ball on the one-yard line. The second was a 52-yard touchdown run by Jerry Howard on the first play of the Trojans’ second possession that made the score 12-0 and seemed to signal a slow death for the Wolverines. They wouldn’t go down easy, though, following the leadership of tough-nosed junior quarterback Tyhier Tyler who gained 119 yards and accounted for two of Woodside’s touchdowns.

Tyler was joined by running back Tamir Walker who gained 99 yards on the ground. Despite keeping the Trojan lead under 10 until midway through the third quarter, the Wolverines could not match power and stamina with the bigger, deeper Trojans.

Turning point

The Wolverines were ultimately buried by a 45-yard touchdown pass from Moloney to Jamario Holley at the 4:41 mark in the third that gave the Trojans a 33-17 lead.

Critical

The Wolverines got behind early, failing to convert first downs and allowing Northwestern favorable field position. They turned that around toward the end of the first quarter and ended the first half recording eight first downs. But good field positioning helped Northwestern score 20 first-half points.

Star contributions

Northwestern’s front seven (lineman Logan Rudolph, Winston Daniels, Jamah Mitchell, and Trae’Von Hinton and linebackers caliph Brice, Alex Anderson) had a long night tracking Woodside’s litany of quick shifty ball carriers. But, despite some big runs from Tyler and Woodside running back Walker, the Trojans’ defensive crew limited the Wolverines to 3.6 yards rushing and one rushing touchdown.

Overheard

“(Next week) we get another shot to go on the road and play a road game. We need to get a road win before we hit regionals,” said Northwestern coach Kyle Richardson.

On deck

Northwestern moves on to face Irma in Columbia Friday Sept 4. Woodside travels across town in Newport News, Va. to play Menchville.

Northwestern 47, Woodside 23

SCORING SUMMARY

First quarter

NHS - Gage Moloney 1 run (kick failed) 9:35

NHS - Jerry Howard 52 run (pass failed) 6:49　

Second quarter

WHS - Tyhier Tyler 13 run (Mitchell kick) 10:48

NHS - Howard 5 pass from Will Hagood (Hagood pass)7:12

WHS - Chad Mitchell 25 yard field goal 18.8

Third quarter

NHS - Howard 1 run (kick failed) 10:33

WHS - Jacari Lee 4 pass from Tyler (Mitchell kick) 6:23

NHS - Jamario Holley 45 pass from Moloney (Gettys kick) 4:41

Fourth quarter

NHS - Holley 16 pass from Moloney (Gettys kick) 10:16

NHS - Holley 9 pass from Moloney (Gettys kick) 7:36

WHS - Lee 1 fumble recovery (kick failed) 2:22

This story was originally published August 29, 2015 at 12:20 AM with the headline "Northwestern football drops Virginia school."