West Orange Warriors take Ol' Orange Crate from Dr. Phillips in 41-34 thriller

WINTER GARDEN — Just 23.5 seconds remained after Warrior quarterback Woody Barrett had rumbled to the end zone from three yards out, leaving West Orange High one point behind Dr. Phillips, 34-33.

“Coach (Collin) Drafts had another play called — we had a pass called — and Woody Barrett said, ‘I want the ball — give me the ball,’” Warrior head coach Bob Head said of that touchdown.

Head called his final timeout as the Sept. 11 evening waned on at Raymond Screws Field.

“Our defense played so many snaps, we had to (go for two) — we were exhausted,” Head said. “Overtime wasn’t for us.”

The Warriors chose to decide the game with one of dozens of keepers by Barrett that night.

Barrett dashed left with the snap and outran the Panther defense to the pylon, giving his team a 35-34 lead after completing an 80-yard drive worthy of the Ol’ Orange Crate, back after four seasons without a game between the Warriors and Panthers.

“I was tired, but it is what it is,” Barrett said of the conversion.

Brian Bollinger — who stood out all night on the West Orange defense — intercepted the pass on the next play from scrimmage and returned it for a touchdown, capping a 41-34 comeback triumph.

“It felt great,” Bollinger said of his interception. “I’ve got to give all the credit to my coaches — they called the exact play and told me what was going to happen. I saw it all unfolding; I made the jump, made the pick, made the touchdown and I was just absolutely pumped.”

With good reason: For the first time since 2005, the Warriors had won possession of the Ol’ Orange Crate. In the process, they ended Dr. Phillips’ 35-game regular-season winning streak, tied for the longest in Central Florida history.

“Guys, you did something tonight that nobody was able to do in years,” Athletic Director Adam Miller told the Warriors afterward. “You took down the best regular-season team in the state. The best regular-season team is no longer Dr. Phillips. … Why not West Orange? Why not?”

THE FINAL DRIVE

With 4:29 showing on the scoreboard, the West Orange Warriors entered final-drive mode after a touchback.

The Dr. Phillips Panthers had just taken a 34-27 lead from the extra point following a Marvin Washington 2-yard touchdown run, set up by a run of almost 40 yards by Emare Hogan.

But Barrett said the Warriors had known already the game was won.

“We knew throughout the game after we came out from halftime it was our game — they didn’t want to play anymore,” he said. “If you keep beating somebody up constantly, they can only take so much.”

Darian Williams started the Warrior drive with a 22-yard burst through a seam.

Then on third down, Barrett skittered for about 14 yards. He followed with a seven-yard scramble and a two-yard sneak, after which he eked out the one yard his team needed on fourth down.

Although Barrett had not expected to run so much on the last drive, he trusted his legs.

“I knew that my legs are a dual threat,” he said. “My legs are deadly. They can make great things happen. They made great things happen, and that’s that.”

With time winding down to about a minute left, Barrett found Naquan Renalds over the middle for a first down at about the 16-yard line. After Barrett ran out of bounds at the 8, West Orange called a timeout with 35.3 seconds left on third down, two yards for a first down.

Barrett charged to the Dr. Phillips 3-yard line and then spiked the ball with 27 seconds left. On the next two plays, he put the Warriors ahead for good.

“We already knew we had the game — mentally,” he said. “We never watched so much film on the team, but from here on out, we’re going to watch film constantly — get three or four hours in (per week).”

THE RUNDOWN

The Panthers recovered the opening West Orange onside kick and rode the first of many long Hogan sprints to the 2-yard line, from which Jaquarias Bargnare plowed into the end zone.

Hogan’s next lengthy rush was a 35-yard keeper up the gut in the second quarter to give Dr. Phillips a 13-0 lead. He reeled off an 18-yard run on his team’s next drive to convert on fourth down and reach the 5-yard line.

But the West Orange defense held in perhaps the game’s biggest momentum shift, forcing Dr. Phillips back six yards before recovering a botched snap on a field-goal attempt.

Consecutive Barrett runs on the ensuing possession gave West Orange goal to go, leading to a short fourth-down touchdown reception for Renalds.

“I had to catch that ball for my team,” Renalds said. “I knew I had to do it … and we scored.”

Barrett passed and ran the Warriors to the 2 with 28 seconds left in the half before plunging in on the next play. A failed two-point conversion resulted in a 13-12 Panthers lead at halftime.

“We just had dropped fumbles,” Barrett said of his team’s early struggles. “The ball was there, but we had a lot of fumbles. We had to come together as a team.”

Another short Barrett sneak capped the Warriors’ first drive of the second half, and he followed with a sneak for two points to make it 20-13.

Washington took over at quarterback for the Panthers in the second half, culminating the team’s first drive with a touchdown dive after traversing 69 yards. The Panthers tied the game at 20.

But West Orange drove right back, finishing with another Renalds touchdown reception.

In the fourth quarter, Washington not only converted third-and-nine on a pass to Alvin Bryant but hit his streaking receiver for a touchdown spanning more than half the field, ultimately tying the game again, 27-27.

A 55-yard Eddie McDoom run involving multiple reverses of field began the next Warrior drive, but West Orange fumbled a snap inside the 10-yard line that Dr. Phillips recovered en route to its final score of the night.

“We’ve just got to tackle better on defense,” Panther head coach Rodney Wells said. “I don’t think we’ve ever scored 34 points and lost a game. The offense did their job tonight.”

But so did the offense led by Barrett, who ranked this game second behind toppling Apopka last year.

“I feel like winning a big game will help us throughout the season and … get me ready to go to college,” Barrett said. “I know what I’m expected to do, and that’s how I’m going to do it.”

Contact Zak Kerr at [email protected].