At times it was strategic. At times it was explosive. At times it was out of control.
The entire time it was unbelievable.
Woodberry Forest rallied from nearly four touchdowns back to knock off a powerful, talented Blair Academy squad 44-33 Saturday.
“This one — Blair is a powerhouse,” said Woodberry coach Clint Alexander. “For us to come back…they responded.”
The Tigers appeared, by all reasonable assumptions, to be essentially out of the game with just under five minutes to play in the first half. There was no reason to think that the Blair offense that had been clicking and the play of running back Jihaad Pretlow was going to slow down. The Temple commitment scored twice on the ground an once more on a 70-yard punt return for a touchdown during a run that put Blair up 33-7.
But Woodberry stayed calm, somehow, and kept grinding. Christian Asher scampered in from 14 yards out just before the break, making halftime a more respectable 33-14.
To turn up the pacing of the offense, offensive coordinator Ryan Alexander headed to the sideline from the pressbox during that second quarter. The playcalls came in fast and furious, allowing the Tigers to wear down a powerful Blair squad that was shorter on numbers than Woodberry, as most teams are. Along with a platoon of fresh legs coming in every other defensive play for the Tigers, Woodberry’s pace took a toll on Blair, who’s offense largely ground to a halt as players struggled with cramps through the second half.
Woodberry, however, got going in the second half with a Brandon Walker catch and run from Hunter Ethridge up the right sideline. The 2-point conversion that followed, however, seemed to firmly shift the momentum to the Tigers. Ethridge threw a jumpball into the right corner of the endzone for Notre Dame commit and linebacker Greer Martini, who stepped in on offense for the first time this week during practice. Martini leapt up and came down with the ball like an offensive veteran. In the first half, he’d hauled in a tough catch over the middle and sprinted 44 yards for a score.
“I’d never played offense before this week and they just threw me in,” Martini said. “It was working during practice so they just threw me in and I just tried to make the most of it.”
Woodberry wasn’t done with the wrinkle either. In the fourth quarter, a few minutes after Asher punched it in again to pull the Tigers within one, Woodberry was backed up near its own goal line and still trailed by four. The coaches called for Martini and inserted him into the game. Everyone noticed, including the Blair crowd who started yelling “47, 47, he’s in.”
It didn’t matter.
“We just ran all verts and I liked the matchup out there,” said quarterback Hunter Etheridge. “When (Martini) gets on (offense) he’s just a playmaker.”
Etheridge let it fly, allowing Martini to run under the ball. Blair’s safety was a half second late and bounced off Martini while trying to make a play on the ball. Martini took off, making a beeline for the end zone. He nearly vomited after the long run, a product of being in on seemingly ever play defensively in addition to his offensive exploits. Martini had four tackles for a loss, two quarterback hurries and a sack, not to mention a forced fumble and a deflection. Martini did all that damage from the edge, playing outside linebacker instead of his usual spot in the middle. He had three catches for 131 yards, the two touchdowns as well as the 2-point conversion.
Woodberry’s defense came up with a stop on fourth down on the ensuing drive, and then appeared set to run out the clock. But HT Minor exploded for a 43-yard touchdown run to give Woodberry some breathing room and complete the 36 unanswered points. Asher and Minor both had big-time days on the ground. Minor went for 114 and the score while Asher had 112 and two touchdowns. They averaged more than seven yards per carry together.
“That was a great score and a great effort (from H.T.),” Alexander said. “We played him on special teams, on defense and we rolled him on offense with Asher who I thought ran really well too.”
Etheridge finished with 244 yards and three touchdowns through the air, going an efficient 17 for 28, connecting on an array of screens and verticals routes in just his second start for the Tigers.
Alexander pointed to the coaches’ approach at halftime. A staff that isn’t afraid to jump on players came at the squad with a slightly different approach.
“I told the parents, we didn’t lose the game at halftime,” Alexander said. “We went in with a plan, we talked about what we needed to do and we didn’t just crush them.”
It paid off in an absurd, thrilling comeback.
