This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Sports

W.T. Woodson Football Team Down But Not Out

Cavaliers face West Springfield for Friday's homecoming.

A football win sometimes boils down to good luck. A good bounce here, an extra tackle there, and the outcome can turn on a dime. Unfortunately, the W.T. Woodson varsity football team (0-4) has not had its share of good luck this season. But it has shown vast improvement on both sides of the ball over the past two weeks.

Held scoreless in their first two games, the Cavaliers scored 13 points against the , one of the hottest teams in the Northern region, on Sept. 16 and forced in a tough road-loss, 40-33 last Friday night. 

“We sure would have liked to finish that game on Friday but I feel we’re moving in the right direction and putting things together,” said coach Joe Dishun regarding the overtime loss against Lee. “We ran for over 300 yards, passed reasonably effectively and felt really good about going into overtime against them. We were pretty much dead even in stats and our feeling was they would never stop us if we kept holding the ball.”

Find out what's happening in Fairfax Citywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Woodson had turnover problems and would not get its first win. But Dishun says he sees growth and improvement from his players after competing against some of the best programs in the region this past month. He feels secure that once his guys grab that initial victory, they will gain confidence and become comfortable learning how to win.

“Things have been tough and we’ve been tested,” he said. “I think the teams we’ve faced have combined for one loss. But it makes us better and we’re moving in the right direction.”

Find out what's happening in Fairfax Citywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Dishun felt fortunate to get his fullback Nick Peevy back last week after an injury. Peevy turned in a terrific performance in his comeback, rushing for 174 yards. 

The coach called Peevy one of his “key senior leaders." He is complemented by Jonathon Stokes, who rushed for 155 against Lee, well in the backfield. But they're not the only leaders on the squad. Dishun believes he has a strong group of standouts that lead both vocally and by example.

“Chris Patrick is a really good pulling guard and he has provided some very solid leadership for us. He’ll say the hard things when they need to be said,” Dishun said. “We’ve got some quiet leaders as well; [Wes] Capar has done a great job and barely says two words, but leads by example. Mike Reaves and Stephen Tapp are a little more vocal and it’s a good mix. Marcus Dash is also a good leader for us. We like them a lot and love seeing them improve.”

Even though youth is the building block for the Cavaliers this season, several seniors continue to thrive on Friday nights, giving it everything they have in their last year of high school football. The players’ commitment to continue improving is the antidote for the rough month Woodson has suffered through, Dishun said.

“We need to improve in all areas and have improved our special teams and want to keep doing that,” he said. ”We need to improve our perimeter play on defense and on offense we need to continue to improve our execution as a unit, just like we’ve been.”

By accomplishing that task, Dishun said he feels his team can still make a push to become a winning team. That journey begins this week in their homecoming game against West Springfield.

“We feel like we’re going to be OK with them this week. They are a sound, stout team and they play consistent football and are well-coached,” Dishun said of his upcoming opponent. “We’re going to have to play a good, consistent game to compete with them and fortunately we’ve started to do that. We feel good about our chances this week.”

When all is said and done this fall, Woodson will have run through one of the toughest schedules in the area. The coach and players want to know they have left every bit of heart and soul out on that football field. The first-year coach said if they can do that, the pay-off is priceless.

“We want the end of our season to mean something and to put ourselves in position,” Dishun said. “We want to take the lessons we’ve learned and turn them into our advantage.”

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?