In the postgame huddle Woodberry Forest coach Clint Alexander tried to bring some humility to the results, because by all indications on the field and on the scoreboard, the Tigers simply pounded visiting St. Christopher’s.
“Listen, that’s a good team and we made them look worse than they really are,” Alexander said. “We really looked at last year’s film and felt like we left 28 points on the field.”
That wasn’t a problem this time around, and in all truth, this was a meeting for a defacto Prep League championship, with the Tigers needing a win to all but lock up the title, Collegiate needing Woodberry to fall and the St. Christopher’s needing a win and a loss by Collegiate. None of that matters now. With what the Tigers did in the first half, you’d have never guessed they were playing the third ranked team in VISAA Division 1. Woodberry looked like a team coming off a bye week, a healthy one and one that executed on seemingly every play to roll to a 45-7 victory.
“Defensively we knew we had to stop the run, which is kind of crazy because their quarterback, Giles Thompson is so good,” Alexander said. “But still, if we made them one dimensional, even though that might be their best suit, that we’d be where we wanted to be.”
Of course the quarterback play for the Tigers wound up being the story, as amazing as this defensive unit played up and down the roster. Back after almost a month on the sidelines, senior quarterback Hunter Etheridge was on point back under center. After a bit of a defensive struggle out of the gate, Etheridge and the Tigers got things rolling at the end of the first quarter, and once they did, the points didn’t stop pouring in. After the Saints saw the Tigers sniff out a fake punt deep in St. Christopher’s territory, an 18-yard pass from Etheridge to Asher broke the scoreless tie with just over a minute left in the first quarter.
“It was hard when I was sitting out because I wanted to be there so badly, but it was great to be out there today,” Etheridge said. “We knew they had a physical defense and there were going to be a lot of guys in the box, so we wanted to take advantage of that, the numbers that we had. We did that well today.”
With the Tigers defense picking up right where it left off after manhandling Landon two weeks ago, the offense had little to worry about. On its next drive, the Tigers tacked on a 39-yard field goal thanks to Michael Armstrong. The following drive with the defense forcing a turnover on fourth and one, again deep in Saints territory, Zach Roderick caught the first of his three touchdown passes on the day, this one from 10 yards out from Etheridge to make it 17-0. Less than a minute later after fumble, Etheridge turned the short field into a 24-0 lead thanks to a 1-yard rushing touchdown.
Though in full command, the Tigers didn’t take their foot off the throttle until midway through the third quarter. A 23-yard run from James Hewell made it 31-0 late in the second quarter. Then out of the break, Lindell Stone came in for Etheridge and found Roderick on a beautiful 38-yard bomb.
The Saints broke up the shutout and the running clock by rule with four minutes in the fourth quarter on an 8-yard run from Ryland Ansell. Yet just thirty seconds later Stone and Roderick struck again, on almost the exact same pass and route, this time a 28-yard strike to made it 45-7.
On the day, Etheridge finished 7 of 10 passing for 52 yards while adding six carries for 46 yards and his three total touchdowns. Stone went an equally impressive 6 for 6 passing for 120 yards. Roderick had five catches for 82 yards while Asher added four for 52. Hewell and fellow running back HT Minor had quiet but effective efforts on the ground with Hewell taking 14 touches for 117 yards while Minor finished with 18 carries for 72 yards.
Woodberry (7-1) can officially wrap up its Prep League championship with Fork Union coming up route 15 on Friday at 3 p.m. The Blue Devils (1-7) ended the Tigers four straight title runs last year. The trophy will be on hand for what amounts to a regular season finale for both. As always, Woodberry will forgo its option to participate in the playoffs to face arch nemesis Episcopal the following week in one of the oldest football rivalries in the country.
