Collins Hill 21, Woodward Academy 14

As long as the Collins Hill defense shows up to play, the Eagles can play with anyone in the state.

After beating Class 7A No. 3 Grayson in the season opener, Collins Hill followed it up with a 21-14 home win against Class 3A No. 7 Woodward Academy on Friday at Alan Fahring Stadium.

The Class 7A No. 10 Eagles came up with eight sacks, one interception and three times prevented Woodward from scoring after it reached the 13 yard line or closer in the second half.

“We love our defense,” Collins Hill coach Drew Swick said. “We call them the ‘D-Boys.’ They play with and I love them to death. Sometimes the offense doesn’t have it going on, but the defense has got to hold their own and not break. Tonight you saw our defensive line come up clutch.”

The game was tied when Collins Hill’s Stephen Barjolo -- who early had a pass interception -- recovered a fumbled punt at the 40. On the next play, defensive tackle-turned-running back Deuce Geralds hit the end and broke away for the go-ahead touchdown.

“You’ve got to trust your players and that’s what we did,” Swick said.

Woodward drove to the 5 with two minutes left and appeared poised to send the game to overtime. But quarterback Landon Walker lost 3 yards on the first play, Daniel Jackson got nothing on a short-side option and Walker was chased around and threw incomplete on the final two downs.

“They’re really, really, really, really good up front and we’re not,” Woodward coach John Hunt said. “We had to replace four of five from last year and we’re struggling, obviously. The young guys need about three or four games to get their legs up.

“I say this to people all the time, this is where a little 3A school like us play in 6A and we just get overmatched. Our kids play hard and our defense was extraordinary against a very large team.”

Collins Hill quarterback Makyree Cross entered the game on the third series and completed 14 of 21 passes for 191 yards and two touchdowns with one interception. Alisah Patillo caught six passes for 56 yards and one touchdown and Atticus Joseph caught three passes for 60 yards and one touchdown.

Walker completed 12 of 23 passes for 193 yards and one touchdown and one interception. Jerome Bettis caught three passes for 95 yards and a 49-yard touchdown.

Woodward’s Blake Stewart intercepted a pass and Tyree Myrick scored on a 52-yard run after he took the ball away from Cross, a touchdown that tied the game with 7:02 remaining.

Collins Hill set the tone on the first play of the game when disruptive Deuce Geralds broke through the line to sack Woodward quarterback Landon Walker. It was the first of three first-quarter sacks for the Eagles. That pressure, along with Woodward’s self-inflicted wounds – four procedure penalties – halted the War Eagles from gaining any traction.

The Collins Hill offense had just as much trouble. The War Eagles had a 43-yard touchdown called back because of a hold and later nearly lost a lateral after both teams gave up on the play because they thought it was an incomplete pass.

Woodward finally solved the pressure and Walker led his team on an 85-yard scoring drive. He completed the final three passes of the drive – a 20-yarder and 16-yarder to Josiah Abdullah and a 49-yarder for a touchdown to Jerome Bettis.

Collins Hill immediately answered with a 78-yard drive. Cross threw to Atticus Joseph for a 31-yard touchdown.

Collins Hill reached the Woodward 25 inside the final two minutes but were taken out of field goal range when Tyree Myrick sacked Cross for a 16-yard loss. The half ended in a 7-7 tie.

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