By RYAN WALKER
WOODBURN — The Southern Wells Raiders lost their fifth game of the season against Woodlan as the Warriors won their homecoming game 46-6.
The first quarter was all that Woodlan needed, scoring 32 points in that period alone.
The Warriors got the touchdown parade started on their third play as quarterback and newly named homecoming king Jacob Snyder threw a screen pass to Nolan Metz. Southern Wells returned the ensuing kickoff to their own 42-yard line but fumbled the ball off of a bad snap, giving it right back to Woodlan.
On the next play, Snyder tossed a shovel pass in front of him to Ethan Vardaman for 34 yards. The two-point conversions were both no good, so the lead stood at 12-0.
The next drive for the Raiders ended in a three-and-out, allowing for Woodlan’s Snyder to throw his third touchdown pass in the game’s first five minutes. This throw was a 67-yard bomb to Vardaman again.
The Warriors’ defense would force two more three-and-outs and be rewarded with two more touchdowns — a Chase Bennett 65-yard punt return and a 59-yard run from Drew Fleek.
Southern Wells for the quarter finished with five drives, converting only two first downs and picking up 33 yards of total offense.
Head coach Mike Roeder knew what the Raiders were in for, missing players due to injury and suspensions from last week’s game at Carroll (Flora).
“So I think we got at the beginning what I thought we were going to get.”
The offensive woes for Roeder’s team did not last, at least for a moment.
The second-quarter drive for the Raiders began at their own 36-yard line. After eight plays of straight rushes, they had 43 yards and the ball at the Woodlan 25. They started to figure out a way to gain some yards by running the jet sweep back and forth and gaining three first downs.
Roeder praised the efforts of junior Kaiden Schmidt, who carried the ball four times for 33 yards, as someone who they can look to in the future on outside handoffs. He mentioned that Schmidt was someone who got a chance Friday and gave the team something to build off of.
But on first down, a costly fumble slipped through the hands of the Raiders and gave the ball back to Woodlan, ending hope for the drive.
Snyder, two plays into the drive, connected his fourth touchdown on the half on a 72-yard grab from Braeden Smith. He reversed the performance at Bluffton the week prior, as he threw for just 21 yards on 18 attempts with no scores.
Another stop from the Warrior defense gave the offense one more chance at a score, as Drew Fleek broke free for 52 yards to make it 46-0.
It was a blowout quickly, though the records were even in conference play and similar to one another overall. But the Raiders didn’t give in.
In the third quarter, the running clock began, which didn’t matter as Roeder called for all running plays anyway. The Raiders carried the ball 13 times and used the entire 12-minute quarter on the drive. Junior Case Boxell ran it in for a 3-yard score to make it 46-6 after a missed two-point conversion.
The drive encouraged Roeder and could get his team ready for the weeks ahead.
“In the second half, we get to the side on some of our jet sweeps, get up the sideline, had some tosses that worked,” he said. “Then we were able to come back off of that motion and run some bellies inside and some traps, and that shows that they can get excited about a little bit of success like that, so maybe that’ll be something they will build upon.”
Woodlan controlled nearly 11 minutes in the fourth quarter before turning the ball over on downs at the Southern Wells 5-yard line. The Raiders ran out the clock two plays later to finish the game at 46-6.
Southern Wells may have lost, but their effort toward the end of the first half and beyond did not go unnoticed by their coach.
“Look, you’ve got to admit, our kids don’t quit. They don’t quit,” Roeder said. “And I’ve coached teams before where I definitely can tell they dropped down and they get down. These kids do not.”
SOUTHERN WELLS, WOODLAN 0
At Woodlan
Score By Quarters
Southern Wells 0 0 6 0 – 6
Woodlan 32 14 0 0 – 46
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
W—Jacob Snyder 17-yard pass to Nolan Metz (2-pt no good), 10:38
W—Jacob Snyder 34-yard pass to Ethan Vardaman (2-pt no good), 10:23
W—Jacob Snyder 67-yard pass to Ethan Vardaman (kick no good), 7:32
W—Chase Bennett 65-yard punt return (Bottoms kick good), 5:35
W—Jacob Snyder 59-yard run (McAlexander kick good), 3:33
Second Quarter
W—Jacob Snyder 72-yard pass to Braeden Smith (Bottoms kick good), 8:45
W—Drew Fleek 52-yard run (Bottoms kick good) 3:04
Third Quarter
SW—Boxell 3-yard run (2-pt no good), 00:12
Fourth Quarter
No scoring
Team Statistics
So Wells Woodlan
First Downs 11 12
Rushes-Yards 43-147 18-210
Yards Passing 0 223
Passing (Comp-Att-Int) 1-2-0 6-9-0
Penalties-Yards 4-20 4-30
Fumbles-Lost 2-2 1-0
Punts-Average 5-24 0-0
Time of Possession 32:36 15:24
Individual Statistics
Passing: Southern Wells, Jenson Nusbaumer 1-2-0 0, Woodlan, Jacob Snyder 4-5-0 190, Ty Louden 2-4-0 33.
Rushing: Southern Wells, Case Boxell 20-75, Kaiden Schmidt 4-33, Gage Roberts 9-30, Owen King 6-19, Trey Slusher 1-4, Brayden Jackson 1-2, Clayton Peterson 1-1, Jenson Nusbaumer 1 -(minus 15), Woodlan, Jacob Snyder 4-94, Drew Fleek 5-89, Ty Louden 5-10, Mason Moore 2-10, Lincoln Sparks, 1-7, Sebestain Faust 1-0.
Receiving: Southern Wells, Levi Woodward 1-0, Woodlan, Ethan Vardaman 2-101, Braeden Smith 1-72, Mason Moore 1-24, Nolan Metz 1-17, Jordan Halsey 1-9.
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