Thursday, November 13, 2008

Anderson and Winton Woods to Meet in Anticipated Matchup

Warriors look to gain some respect

by Bret Sims

Winton Woods finished the season 11-1 and winners of the FAVC Buckeye Division yet found themselves ranked second in the final Enquirer small-school poll behind Anderson (10-2). A team they had beaten earlier in the season 23-13.

“We beat them on the field, and that’s all that mattered to us”, said Winton Woods coach Troy Everhart.

Jeff Giesting the head coach for Anderson wondered himself if his Redskins deserved to be ranked ahead of Winton Woods but one thing he knew as that Everhart and the Warriors would use that as motivation in their game on Friday night.

In that first matchup Winton Wood’s Jeremiah Goins rushed for 134 yards and 2 touchdowns only to be outdone by teammate Dominique Brown who topped 160 yards on the ground for the Warriors. Kyle Slater who is the hard running RB at Anderson had his worst performance of the year as Winton Woods held him to just 47 yards rushing on the ground though he did manage to break the goal line once in the game.

Both teams have clearly improved throughout the season in which Anderson’s junior RB Kyle Slater rushed for more than 1300 yards and 25 TD’s for the Redskins while on the other side of the ball Winton Woods junior RB Jeremiah Goins rushed for more than 1100 yards and an amazing 32 touchdowns. Not to be outdone was Warrior teammate junior QB Dominique Brown who found the end zone 13 times and compiled more than 1300 yards on the ground.

It should be a high scoring affair as both offenses appear to be clicking as they head into this matchup. Anderson defeated Tecumseh 31-13 while Winton Woods crushed Kings 44-9 in a game that wasn’t as close as the score appeared. The Warriors called off the dogs early in the second half or the final score would have been a lot worse.

The winner of this game will move on to play the winner of Columbus St. Francis De Sales, a team that beat Anderson earlier in the season 38-17 which happened to be the same day that Winton Woods suffered their only loss of the year to Bishop Watterson.

Anderson is the Div II reigning champion and has a load of talent but Winton Woods appears to be a team that is playing at a higher level than their competition. Like the 2007 NCAA National Champion Florida Gators who had unmatched team speed the Warriors find themselves in the same type of mismatch for their opponents. Speed is something that you can’t teach and something that you can prepare for.

This should be an old fashioned shoot out with a lot of scoring from the opening possession. Look for Winton Woods to end Anderson’s attempt at a state title repeat as they move on and prove to the pollsters that the are the better team.