By: Wes McKinney
BECKLEY, W.Va. — Last season didn’t go the way that coach John Lilly and the Woodrow Wilson Flying Eagles envisioned as they finished 4-6 following back-to-back playoff appearances.
“We had anticipation of going a little deeper in the playoffs and it didn’t happen,” Lilly said. “We’ve had a little chip on our shoulder this offseason trying to get back to the level we should be on.”
Woodrow Wilson will return the bulk of last season’s squad, including senior quarterback Brent Osborne.
“Anytime you have your quarterback back you’re a little bit ahead of the game,” Lilly said. “He’s a good decision maker and worked hard in the offseason. We have a pretty good offensive line in front of him, anchored by Ben Jackson.”
This season is different for Osborne as last season he was replacing a former first team all-state selection at quarterback in Andrew Johnson.
“Last year he had to replace an all-stater in Andrew Johnson, but now he feels a lot more comfortable coming into this season,” Lilly said. “The big thing with him is he’s a smart kid, he makes sound decisions and he can run our offense very good.”
In addition to bringing back Osborne and several offensive weapons, Woodrow Wilson also returns a bevy of defensive players.
“Troy Lilly leads us on defense,” John Lilly said. “We have everyone back on that side of the ball anchored with Troy at linebacker. We feel like we have a pretty good defensive line (led by) Justin Ward, who had a really good offseason.”
Woodrow Wilson will face an ultra competitive schedule in the MSAC squaring off against four playoff teams from a season ago with matchups against Cabell Midland, Capital, Huntington and Oak Hill. The Flying Eagles will close the season with a long road trip to Hedgesville.
During the 2011 and 2012 playoffs, Woodrow Wilson made long trips to Martinsburg for their playoff opener, so they have become acclimated with traveling to the eastern panhandle. But, right now Lilly and his players are taking a blue collar approach towards getting back to the playoffs.
“We have a we’ll show you attitude right now,” Lilly said. “We aren’t going to talk about it – we’re just going to outwork everyone. We have lowered the hype and we plan to outwork people.”
WOODROW WILSON 2014 Football Schedule |
||||||||
1 | 08/29/14 07:30PM | H | WINFIELD | – | ||||
2 | 09/05/14 07:30PM | A | GREENBRIER EAST | – | ||||
3 | 09/12/14 07:30PM | A | HUNTINGTON | – | ||||
4 | 09/26/14 07:30PM | A | RIVERSIDE | – | ||||
5 | 10/03/14 07:30PM | H | CABELL MIDLAND | – | ||||
6 | 10/10/14 07:30PM | A | PARKERSBURG | – | ||||
7 | 10/17/14 07:30PM | H | CAPITAL | – | ||||
8 | 10/24/14 07:30PM | H | PRINCETON | – | ||||
9 | 10/31/14 07:30PM | H | OAK HILL | – | ||||
10 | 11/07/14 07:30PM | A | HEDGESVILLE | – | ||||
wins: 0 lost: 0 ties: 0 |
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