Sports

OFFENSIVE ADJUSTMENT SPARKS WILDCATS IN WIN OVER YELLOWJACKETS

By Troy Schulte/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Saturday, October 31, 2009 1:48 AM CDT

SHERIDAN — Coaches don’t usually tinker with an offense that has scored 30 or more points in seven of its eight games. Or one that has helped a team to what will now most likely will be a first-round playoff game on its home field.

But to start a game on a muddy field at Yellowjacket Stadium on Friday night, Watson Chapel coach George Shelton had a usual wide receiver lined up under center and the quarterback that had started every game this season lined up as one of three wishbone running backs.

The Wildcats ran through their first two possessions with that formation — Kyle Coleman at quarterback and C.J. Branch taking handoffs. The personnel tweak didn’t seem to bother them, though, as both of those series ended in the end zone and the Wildcats scored on each of their four possessions in the first half on their way to a 34-0 win over Sheridan.

“It was a good little experiment,” Shelton said. “Lucky we got away with it and (nobody) got hurt doing it.”

Coleman has been Watson Chapel’s No. 2 quarterback all season, and he played some there last week in a win over Texarkana. So him being there wasn’t a surprise. But Branch being lined up at running back was a new twist from Shelton, who calls offensive plays for his team.

“At the quarterback position it would have been difficult to get him where we wanted him to be on the field,” Shelton said. “We thought if we could get him the ball in the running back position it would help us out and it did.”

The 6-2, 230-pound Branch carried three times on the opening drive for 19 yards. Nick Vanderbilt, though, carried most of the load then.

He had five carries for 65 yards on the opening possession, including a 41-yard touchdown score which he punctuated by diving into the corner of the end zone to end a drive that spanned 93 yards in 10 plays and took 5 minutes, 25 seconds.

Watson Chapel (7-2, 4-2 6A-South Conference) didn’t take as long to score on its next series. After Vanderbilt lost a yard, a pass interference penalty on Sheridan and a false start penalty on the Wildcats put the ball at their own 24-yard line.

There, Coleman kept on a keeper that was designed to go around the right end, but he cut it back up the middle, then toward the left sideline and outraced the Sheridan secondary 76 yards for the score. The two-point conversion failed — which was necessary because of a sickness to kicker Collin Massanelli — and the Wildcats led 14-0.

Sheridan coach Benji White said it didn’t really matter who was keeping on option runs or handing off for Watson Chapel. His team prepared for the bruising style of Branch but, instead, were faced with trying to corral the shifty Coleman. Both were dangerous.

“You’re looking at a guy that’s fixing to run you over,” White said. “Then you’ve got a guy you’re going at his legs and then you dive and miss.

“Branch is good and the kid they had in there is a great athlete.”

White added that he was proud with how his team played defensively in the second half. After trailing 28-0 at the break it allowed only a 37-yard touchdown run by Kevin Johnson early in the fourth quarter.

The Yellowjackets’ problem, though, was they couldn’t gain any traction in the muck.

Three times in the first half long kickoff returns by Colton Easley set the Yellowjackets up at its 40-yard line or closer. But they never got closer to the end zone than the Watson Chapel 24-yard line, when kicker Brandon Womble’s 40-yard field goal as the first-half clock expired fell short.

Quarterback Eric Eggburn completed just 5 of 17 passes for 62 yards and an interception. Top rushers Alden Fletcher and Tobin Pritchard combined for just 67 yards on the ground and Sheridan managed just 123 yards of total offense.

“We had our opportunities all night,” White said. “We laid an egg. We couldn’t finish what we started each time.”

Like most Friday nights this fall, it seemed any Wildcats player who found the ball in his hands was able to find consistent running room.

Vanderbilt led all rushers with 98 yards and a pair of touchdowns, his 4-yard run put the Wildcats up 20-0 in the second quarter, and Coleman finished with 96 yards on seven carries. Branch finished with 41 yards, including a 5-yard score that pushed the lead to 28-0 at halftime.

The Wildcats finished with 349 yards rushing and Branch also completed 4 of 8 passes for 90 yards.

The win clinches at least a No. 3 seed for the Wildcats in the Class 6A state playoffs that begin Nov. 13. That position brings with it a home date in the first round against the No. 6 seed from the 6A-East.

Because of Texarkana’s 21-18 upset of Lake Hamilton, the Wildcats could still steal the No. 2 seed, which would provide them with a first-round bye. For that to happen, they need to win their regular-season finale on Thursday against Benton and hope Lake Hamilton loses a home game to Little Rock J.A. Fair on Friday.

WATSON CHAPEL 34, SHERIDAN 0

Watson Chapel 14 14 0 6 — 34

Sheridan 0 0 0 0 — 0

SCORING SUMMARY

FIRST QUARTER

WC — Vanderbilt 41 run (Coleman run), 4:16

WC — Coleman 76 run (run failed), 1:27

SECOND QUARTER

WC — Vanderbilt 4 run (run failed), 3:50

WC — Branch 5 run (Branch run), 0:28

FOURTH QUARTER

WC — Johnson 36 run (run failed), 10:58

STATISTICAL LEADERS

RUSHING: WC, Vanderbilt 11-98, Coleman 7-96, Branch 11-41; S, Fletcher 13-30, Pritchard 7-37, Eggburn 4-12.

PASSING: WC, Branch 4-8-90-1, Coleman 0-2-0-1; S, Eggburn 5-17-62-1; Smith 0-2-0-0.

RECEIVING: WC, Lane 3-65, Coleman 1-26. S, Moore 2-44, Ware 1-10, Perkins 1-8.

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