Woodland gets season sweep of rival Ramay
Posted on Friday, November 7, 2008
Fayetteville sophomores Sims Terry, top, and Athen Brandon speak while preparing for the Dogs ’ game with Har-Ber Friday in the FHS fieldhouse. The Bulldogs host Rogers Heritage today at 7: 30 p. m. in their final game of the regular season. ANDY SHUPE Northwest Arkansas Times Woodland Junior High quarterback Austin Allen (18 ) keeps the football for a touchdown during the first quarter of the Cowboys ’ game with Ramay Junior High Thursday at Harmon Field.
Woodland put the finishing touches on a successful junior-high season Thursday night by blowing past Ramay, 31-7 at a chilly Harmon Field. With a 7-0 win over the Indians to begin the 2008 campaign, the Cowboys complete the season sweep over their Fayetteville rivals.
With no championship on the line, the game came down to pride and Woodland (8-2, 6-2 NWAC ) quickly put a halt to Ramay’s four-game winning streak as the Cowboys jumped out early and never let the Indians back in the game. Woodland started the game by recovering an onside kick and the rout was on.
“ We weren’t going to kick it deep to their receivers. [Casey Perry and Eric Simmons ] are great return men. We were just going to take our chances with [the onside ], ” Woodland coach Bobby Crockett said.
A second successful onside kick later in the half took another possession away from the Indians and combined with a fumble and a blocked punt, Ramay (5-5, 5-3 ) never found an offensive rhythm. In the opening half, the Indians ran just 11 plays and found themselves down 24-7.
“ They had all the momentum and more, ” Ramay coach Craig Foringer said. “ We never really gave ourselves a chance. ”
Kampbell Walker jumped on Max Coffin’s perfectly executed onside kick at Ramay’s 38 and six plays later, QB Austin Allen put Woodland up 7-0 on a 2-yard run. A pass interference penalty greatly aided the Cowboys ’ cause.
“ We’ve recovered onsides many times in practice but [Woodland ] just made the play and did what they had to do to gain the early momentum, ” Foringer said.
Ramay got a break when Caymen Moore picked off a pass attempt by Tyler Tuck but the Indians went threeand-out. Tuck made up for the turnover by blocking the Indians’ punt deep in Ramay territory. Another pass interference put Woodland inside the 10 and Allen passed to Tuck for an 8-yard score and a 14-0 Woodland lead.
The Cowboys went up 21-0 on a 9-yard screen pass from Allen to Reid Holmes but Ramay finally got on the board with 2: 06 left in the half. Devin Harvey ran for 10 yards and Brice Gahagans finished up with a 58-yard sprint to the end zone to cut the lead to 21-7.
Coffin nailed a 23-yard field goal as time expired in the first half to give Woodland a commanding 24-7 advantage.
Woodland added another touchdown early in the third on a 34-yard run by Allen. The Indians drove to the Woodland 22 and 26 on consecutive drives but couldn’t convert on fourth down on either possession.
Allen led the way for Woodland with 67 yards rushing and 85 passing, 38 going to Tuck on three receptions. For Ramay, Gahagans had 68 yards on eight carries.
Crockett said lots of folks didn’t think his squad would do much this year after an unsuccessful eighth-grade season.
“ Coming from 4-6 as eighth graders, nobody thought these kids would be any good. They worked their butts off and stuck their nose to the grindstone and 8-2 shows the character of these kids we’ve got this year, ” Crockett said.
In the eighth-grade game, Woodland blanked Ramay, 23-0. Brooks Ellis and Cole Harris connected on an 85-yard touchdown and Alex Brignoni added a rushing touchdown.
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