For the second straight week Woodberry Forest got things rolling on offense. That paired with a pair of special teams touchdowns and the usual stout defensive play from the Tigers was simply more than Fork Union could handle. Thanks to a 42-13 win, Woodberry earned its second straight Prep League championship and its sixth and seven years to set up a big time season finale next week.
“This is our brand of football — we try to win in all three levels,” said Tigers coach Clint Alexander. “If we can’t win all three we have to at least win two of them if we want to win football games.”
Quarterback Christian Zaytoun started off the scoring for Woodberry with a nine yard TD pass to Nate Ingram. The Blue Devils took on lead in the day and it came after quarterback Sam Allen hit Preston Duroucher from 20-yards out. It was a short lived lead and unfortunately for FUMA, it was all Woodberry in all three phases of the game until late in the fourth.
The Tigers reclaimed the lead for good on the ensuing kickoff when Michael Davenport returned 95 yards it for a touchdown.
“As soon as the ball bounced up I looked and saw all my teammates blocking and knew if I could just break one tackle I’d just see green,” Davenport said. “It started at the front line though, they put up great blocks, that was the best part of the return.”
Zaytoun then picked up his second and third touchdown passes of the game, first hitting Zach Roderick and then finding William Humphries. Up 28-7 going into the half, the Tigers did not let up afterwards. On a punt return from 72-yards out late in the third quarter Nathaniel Tyrell bounced around a slew of defenders and somehow slipped out of the pile to run the rest of the way for the touchdown. Woodberry went up 42-7 after Jared Hash punched in a rushing touchdown.
“Nathaniel’s punt return was huge,” Alexander said. “I lost him in that crowd. I thought he was done and he came squirting out the other side… and the offensive line has just been dominant these last few weeks.”
Fork Union was able to end the 36-0 run in the fourth quarter with Allen connecting with Micah Keels for a 54-yard touchdown pass.
On the day, Zaytoun finished 11 for 22 passing with 139 yards and three touchdowns. Evan Riviere led the Tigers with 78 yards on 14 touches. Roderick finished with three catches for 60 yards. Joseph Stephenson and Duke Sherrell were busy defensively with 16 and 15 tackles respectively. Chris Kelemen and Davis Cornett each had interceptions.
The win over the Blue Devils also kept the Tigers undefeated at 7-0 as they head into their version of the post season, it’s annual meeting with Episcopal, the South’s oldest continuous rivalry that dates all the way back to 1901.
“I’ve got my notes on Episcopal on the bus so I’m going to be done (enjoy this win) in about half an hour,” Alexander said. “It’s not hard to get fired up for Episcopal.”
The loss ended Fork Union’s season with the Blue Devils finishing 3-8.
