Ball hogs

STUARTS DRAFT – Consistent play and strong running took Stuarts Draft to a 44-14 win over Waynesboro on Friday in the annual Battle for the Ball. Draft has beaten Waynesboro the last three seasons.
The Cougars started the game off with an early 52-yard touchdown from Travis Shifflett but the Little Giants returned the favor with an 89-yard kick-off return for a touchdown from Kevin Jackson, though Draft’s Zach Glass blocked the extra point.
A bad pitch in the end zone from Waynesboro on the following drive gave Draft a saftey and they followed with a quick 41-yard touchdown from Shifflett to put the score at 16-6.
The start of the second quarter saw another touchdown for the Cougars, but this one from D.J. Hines. Mental errors from the Little Giants gave the ball back to the Cougars who, through steady running plays, sawanother touchdown from Hines from 24-yards out.
Waynesboro’s Chet Berry threw a 22-yard pass to Bryant Carter, then Terrell Thompson ran the ball for 10-yards to pick up a touchdown for the Little Giants. Making up for the blocked extra point earlier, Thompson also ran in a two-point conversion.
“We’re a better football team then what we played in the first half,” said Stuarts Draft coach Rod Bowers.
The third quarter saw more of a defensive game from the Cougars, pushing the Waynesboro running backs into the backfield and causing chaos on the line.
The Cougar offense constantly ran the ball down the throats of the Little Giants. Hines achieved another touchdown for Draft from a 10-yard run and after a recovered fumble from Waynesboro, the Cougars had the ball back in their possession and on their own 45-yardline. A 34-yard pass from Ryan Moore to Tyler Brydge and a quick 10-yard run from Darius Woodson resulted in the final touchdown for the Cougars.
“Darius and D.J. are going to be good runners,” Bowers said about the sophomore running backs. “They’re really growing up and learning what we expect from them. They have great potential but that’s nothing more than a stick of dynamite.”
Woodson had 62 total yards, whereas Shifflett had 173-yards and Hines had 149-yards.
The fourth quarter, though having no scoring from either side, saw a change in the line-up for the Cougars. Freshman John King took over at the quarterback position.
“John is a really good quarterback,” Bowers said. “He knows the offense. He was ball boy for us last year and was by my side constantly, he absorbs everything.”
The Battle for the Ball turned out in Draft’s favor, keeping the trophy in the Cougar house.
“This was just another game, rivalry is for the fans,” Bowers said. “The kids don’t realize, sometimes we blow this way out of proportion.”
Draft heads to Harrisonburg next week while Waynesboro hosts Spotswood.