Mavericks Roll Over Woodmont, 45-20

For a while on Friday night, it looked like the Mauldin football team was going to find itself in a shootout with Woodmont just like the one it had last week against Hillcrest. But Coach Doug Shaw’s squad came out with a renewed purpose after halftime to score 24 straight points en route to a convincing 45-20 road win. The victory moves the Mavericks to 2-0 on the year while Woodmont fell to 0-2.

In the end, Mauldin simply had too much firepower for Woodmont. The only hope the Wildcats had in stopping the Mavericks offense was if Mauldin stopped themselves, which did happen on a few occasions. Mauldin had several fumbles and one of their interceptions occurred in their own end zone, giving Woodmont an easy touchdown.

But in those times when Mauldin’s offense slipped up, the defense responded, stopping Woodmont on downs when they were threatening to score on several occasions.

Mauldin’s first score of the game actually came on Woodmont’s first possession. After stopping the Wildcats’ opening drive, Mauldin blocked the ensuing punt and A.J. Brown ran it in to put the Mavericks on top 7-0.

Woodmont then responded with what would prove to be its best drive of the night, making the score 7-7 before the Mauldin offense ever took the field.

After an exchange of possessions, Mauldin drove for a touchdown on a Reggie Lomax 10-yard run and a 14-7 lead.

Shaw said part of the game plan was to get Lomax and fellow running back Roy Nash on the field together as much as possible. “That’s something we worked on during the week,” Shaw said. “It gives us more options and frees up our receivers.”

It also gave the Woodmont defense a headache as they could never figure out who to key on.

Later in the first half, with the Woodmont defense trained elsewhere, Mauldin quarterback Dre Massey found freshman Ozell Young in a seam for the first of his three touchdown passes.

Woodmont would then drive deep into Mauldin territory only to be stopped inside the five-yard line. However, on the first play after taking over, Massey was intercepted in the end zone to make it 21-14.

That’s where the score stood at half time. During the break, the Mauldin coaching staff exhorted the Mavericks into upping their intensity level. It worked. Massey hit Jordan Hallums with a delicate touchdown pass for a two touchdown lead. Then Lomax took a short pass and dashed into the end zone to put Mauldin in command, 35-14 at the end of the third quarter.

Shaw believed his team’s conditioning may have played a difference in the outcome. “We play fast so we practice fast. In the second half we were telling the kids to get up on the ball and not give them a chance to rest,” he said.

Mauldin’s superior conditioning may have best been demonstrated by junior Frankie Johnson. The lineman picked off a screen pass midway through the fourth quarter and then, showing little fatigue, rumbled into the end zone for a touchdown and a 42-14 lead.

Evan Rogers kicked a field goal for Mauldin and Woodmont added a late touchdown for the final score.

The Mavericks hit the road again next week at T.L. Hanna. Kickoff is at 7:30.