“I’m thinking, ‘Win the game, make a play, anything’,” Woodruff said.
With his team trailing 39-35 with 3:24 remaining against fourth-ranked West Jefferson on Friday night at Tiger Stadium, Woodruff engineered a 60-yard scoring drive, finding Trenton Douthwaite from 16 yards out with 23 seconds remaining to lift the 10th-ranked Tigers to a 42-39 comeback victory.
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West Liberty-Salem (7-1, 2-1 Ohio Heritage Conference North Division) bounced back after dropping its first game of the season last week to Fairbanks 26-20.
“I couldn’t be more proud of this team,” said Tigers coach Dan McGill. “Not a lot of people outside of our program thought we had a chance tonight after a poor showing last week. These guys looked to each other, they trusted the system, they believed in what we were trying to get them to do. They did their jobs, nothing more, nothing less.”
Woodruff went 22-for-31 for 277 yards and two TDs. Running back Holden Nease rushed 20 times for 124 yards and three TDs after missing last week’s game with an injury and Douthwaite caught eight passes for 81 yards and the game-winning TD.
“It feels amazing,” Woodruff said. “Having Holden back in the backfield felt really good. I couldn’t have asked the boys up front to play any better. They had a tough task but they rose to the challenge.”
West Jefferson running back Gabe Jones rushed for 207 yards and had five total TDs, including a 22-yard score early in the fourth quarter to give West Jefferson a 32-27 lead.
The Tigers reclaimed the lead on a 1-yard TD run by Nease to make it 35-32 with 4:54 remaining.
The Roughriders marched the ball right down the field, entering Tigers territory on a 46-yard pass from Tyler Buescher to Tyler Oberle. A few plays later, Jones ran it in from three yards out to give the Roughriders a 39-35 lead.
The Tigers quickly drove the ball into West Jefferson territory. They converted a fourth-and-5 from the 25-yard line on a five-yard pass from Woodruff to Douthwaite with 36 seconds remaining. Two plays later, Woodruff found Douthwaite in the end zone to give the Tigers the lead for good.
“I trust Woody,” McGill said. “He’s played a lot of football. He knows what we want him to do with the football and he’s not afraid of the moment. Obviously, that showed tonight.”
West Jefferson scored on its third play from scrimmage on a 40-yard run by Jones to take an early 7-0 lead.
West Liberty-Salem tied the score at 7 on an Isaiah McGill 22-yard TD run. On its next possession, Tyler Buescher hit Kyle Scott on a 28-yard TD pass to make it 14-7.
The Tigers tied the score early in the second quarter on a 27-yard TD run by Nease. West Jefferson’s Jones returned the ensuing kickoff 95 yards for a TD to give the Roughriders a 20-14 lead.
A 4-yard TD pass from Woodruff to Nick Burden and a 17-yard TD by Nease gave the Tigers a 27-20 lead at the half.
“It was a great football game,” said West Jefferson coach Shawn Buescher. “We knew they were a great team coming in. They deserve a lot of credit. They did a lot of great things … Hopefully we can meet again.”
The victory puts Fairbanks (6-2, 3-0) atop the OHC North standings with three teams tied for second place at 2-1 — Mechanicsburg (7-1), West Jefferson (7-1) and West Liberty-Salem (7-1). The Panthers host Mechanicsburg next week.
The Tigers travel to Northeastern next week and finish the season against at home against Mechanicsburg. After the game, McGill was ready to enjoy the win instead of thinking about what lies ahead for his football team.
“This was a game of whoever had the ball last was going to win and we were fortunate,” McGill said. “That’s a heck of ball team over there and (Shawn Buescher) does a fantastic job. Who knows, we may see them down the road (in the D-V, Region 20 playoffs) and I’m sure that will be a game, too.”
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