Tigers take Prep battle

WOODBERRY —Woodberry Forest found the perfect formula for success against Prep League rival Fork Union on Saturday afternoon — and it all started with the defense.

The Tigers shut down the visiting Blue Devils and let their offense do the rest in a 28-7 win on a beautiful day at Johnson Stadium at Hanes Field.

Woodberry stayed unbeaten with the win and handed FUMA, ranked No. 1 in the VISAA Division I football poll, its first loss of the season.

“This [game] has been marked off on our calendars for a long time. Losing to them 6-0 last year took away from our perfect season that we wanted,” said Woodberry senior captain Ed Reynolds. “This win is big — it’s our first Prep League game and we beat the No. 1 team in the state.”

Woodberry’s defense set the tone early, forcing a fumble on the Blue Devils’ opening drive. Junior linebacker Rue Hockensmith picked up the loose ball and ran it 46 yards for the score. The touchdown marked the first that Fork Union allowed this year.

On their following possession, the Blue Devils drove deep in Tigers’ territory, but the drive stalled when Aramide Olaniyan brought down FUMA running back Andre Parker on a fourth-and-three play.

Woodberry (3-0, 1-0 Prep) capitalized and used a long drive to build its lead. The Tigers, aided by strong running by Reynolds and Ade Oyalowo and several nice passes from quarterback Alex Hagood, moved easily down the field.

Hagood found tight end Eliot Nelson from four yards out as the Tigers extended the lead.

Woodberry had another opportunity in the second quarter, but it was thwarted when Fork Union (4-1, 0-1) recovered a fumble on a pass play from Hagood to David Dossett.

The Tigers held the Blue Devils to three first downs in the first half, all on Woodberry penalties.

On its first drive of the second half, it took two plays for Woodberry to score after a nice return by Oyalowo put the Tigers in FUMA territory.

Robert Spilman came in at quarterback and hooked up with Dossett in the end zone on a pretty play from 26 yards out and Woodberry extended its lead to 21-0.

“I took a huge risk last week and held a lot of stuff back offensively against McDonogh that almost hurt us. I had that much faith in our defense so I felt like I couldn’t show it all,” said Woodberry coach Clint Alexander. “But I felt like we moved the ball better this week. But that long pass for a touchdown — we’d been working on for a while, and that was all for Fork Union.”

The Tigers added another TD in the fourth quarter as Oyalowo rumbled down the field for a 50-yard score.

Alexander was pleased with his offense’s balanced attack.

“Our biggest goal — we started it last year and it’s the same way this year — is being unselfish,” Alexander said. “We’re sharing the ball. We’ve got a ton of different kids touching the ball and we got a lot of different kids doing great things for us offensively.”

Fork Union, which had failed to capitalize on a couple of previous opportunities, found the end zone late as Mitchell Starnes hooked up with Akeem Garnett for a 70-yard TD strike.

Fork Union coach Micky Sullivan said his team needs to focus on the basics.

“We just didn’t play well. We gave them two early ones and we just did not respond well. And that’s my fault,” Sullivan said. “It’s real simple, it’s not a real complicated game. They blocked better than we did, they tackled better than we did. We made two early mistakes and got behind and we never could catch up.”

FUMA will look to get back on track against St. Christopher’s on Friday. Woodberry gets another tough task next week as it travels to Richmond to face Collegiate.