Woodstock
Schlabach scored on the opening kickoff — a weaving 78-yard return — to propel the Woodstock football team to a 42-14 win over Mill River on Friday night at James T. McLaughlin Field. Schlabach, who finished the game with 131 rushing yards on 10 carries and three touchdowns, has scored all five of his touchdowns this season on home turf.
“We haven’t broke one of those in years,” he said. “For the past four games, I’ve been like, ‘I need this.’ It’s just something that I wanted to do. The timing was right. I had great blocks and I just broke free. It was amazing.
“I love this field,” Schlabach added. “The crowd, they just always get me energized.”
Power runner Caden White scored twice from short yardage in the second half, and sophomore quarterback Trevor White connected with Charlie Amato for a 20-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter to round out Woodstock’s scoring. The Wasps were 5-for-6 on points after touchdowns and never relinquished the lead after Schlabach’s opening score.
“As fast as we were last year, the last three years, we hadn’t returned a kickoff in, like, five years,” Woodstock head coach Ramsey Worrell said. “It was really a point of emphasis this year to really work on kickoffs. We’ve certainly been talking about it a lot. That was a nice way to start.”
The Wasps are now 4-1 overall, 4-0 in the league, and are beginning to find a place behind undefeated Windsor as one of the top teams in VPA Division III.
That begins with a fullback-oriented running game that Worrell said puts runners like Schlabach in a position to succeed.
“He is the perfect wing-T running back,” Worrell said. “He’s just perfect. That is meant to be a 90-degree cut. When you have a wing-T team, and you have an image in your head of that running back, he is the perfect fit.
“It’s gaps, but he is also able to see, if someone is in the gap, the best way to get by them,” he added. “If he’s getting by you, he understands how to go tight. He’s really good at running through arm tackles, and he just goes hard.”
Schlabach’s second touchdown came six plays after his first in the first quarter, a 51-yard sweep to the left that put Woodstock up, 14-0, with 9:08 remaining. Trevor White’s touchdown pass to Amato finished off Woodstock’s next drive with 2:41 left in the quarter.
The Wasps led, 21-0, before Mill River had a first down.
The Minutemen responded on the next drive, a 65-yard bomb from Mill River quarterback Colby Fox to Tyler Shelvey. The two connected again on a 44-yard catch and run in the second quarter, cutting Woodstock’s lead to 27-14 just before halftime.
But it was all the offense Mill River could muster. Fox was picked off on Mill River’s opening drive after halftime by Woodstock’s Amato and was 2-for-5 in the air in the second half.
Woodstock had only two on-field practices this week after workouts on Monday and Tuesday were brought indoors because of high temperatures. Worrell said he was impressed with his team’s preparation.
“I thought we did a great job yesterday in pregame, in a very difficult week,” Worrell said. “We had two film days and two practice days. I was pleased with our focus early on.”
Added Schlabach: “I think this week, even though we only had two practices, we came out focused and we came prepared. We just wanted to win.”
Caden White was second on the team with 79 rushing yards on 15 carries. Jed Astbury ran for 44 yards on nine carries.
The Wasps travel to Missisquoi next week.
Josh Weinreb can be reached at jweinreb@vnews.com or 603-727-3306.