What We Saw: Woodruff 62, Emerald 35

WOODRUFF | In Woodruff's home opener Friday, the only thing that could stop the Wolverines was the game clock. Out of Woodruff's 10 possessions, one ended when the Wolverines ran out the first-half clock - on a possession that began with 25 seconds left, while another resulted in Woodruff running the final 7:59 off the game clock. Those other eight ended with touchdowns. The Wolverines added a special teams score as well to move to 3-0 with a 62-35 win over Emerald.   Woodruff senior quarterback [player_tooltip player_id='1253917' first='TJ' last='Morris'] put on a clinic in the first half that resulted in him having a hand in six touchdowns. Facing an Emerald defense that loaded up the box and blitzed quite a bit to start the game, Morris remained steady in the pocket and and patiently allowed for screen blockers to get in position and receivers to get open.   "The way he (Morris) prepares himself is unbelievable. He's a great student of the game and a son of a coach," Woodruff coach Brett Sloan said. "There's a presence there with him on the field where he knows what's going on all the time. He doesn't make a whole lot of mistakes.   "We tell him all the time that we don't need him to be Superman. We just need him to drive the car, because we've got some guys who can play on offense."   On the fourth play of the game, Morris tossed a bubble screen to [player_tooltip player_id='1592034' first='Kori' last='Moates'] (pictured). With perfect blocks from his fellow receivers springing the way, Moates raced for a 52-yard gain. That set up a five-yard touchdown run by Morris.   After what was either a poor regular kickoff or an excellent onside kick, Woodruff recovered the ball at midfield. Eight plays later, Morris found 6-foot-5, 225-pound tight end [player_tooltip player_id='1395078' first='Kam' last='Taylor'] in the end zone for a 26-yard score and the Wolverines had a 14-0 lead before Emerald touched the ball.   Morris threw touchdowns on each of Woodruff's next four drives - two to Moates and two more to Taylor.   "TJ's excellent at reading RPOs and he's able to see me downfield because I'm a big target," Taylor said.   Morris' last touchdown of the half gave the Wolverines a commanding 33-point lead with 46 seconds left, but Emerald's Chris Dean took off on a 59-yard touchdown run to cut the lead to 41-15 at the break. The Vikings (2-1) had just 39 yards of total offense prior to Dean's score.   Meanwhile, Woodruff piled up 384 yards of total offense in the first half, with 300 provided by Morris. He threw for 264 yards on 12-of-16 passing with no interceptions and ran for 36 yards on five carries.   "That first half was just amazing. We had a real complimentary game," Morris said. "We had a great game plan coming in and we just executed it."   In the second half, Morris completed every throw he made - all one of them. That 13-yard play left Morris with 277 yards passing for the night. Woodruff seemed bound and determined to pound the ball in the second half and that's exactly what it did.   Emerald scored on each of its first two possessions in the second half to cut the lead to 48-29. That might've made the Woodruff sideline a bit nervous considering the fact that the Wolverines saw double-digit halftime leads disappear each of the first two weeks this season. Moates immediately took care of that when he returned the ensuing kickoff 88 yards for a touchdown.   "We have that next play mentality every time, all of us together as a team," Moates said. "We had an answer every time tonight."   After Woodruff's [player_tooltip player_id='1578787' first='Hunter' last='West'] provided the lone turnover of the game with an interception at midfield on the first play of the fourth quarter, [player_tooltip player_id='1036753' first='Aiden' last='Gibson'] rumbled 46 yards for a touchdown to remove all doubt. Gibson ran 19 times for 124 yards, 81 of which came in the second half. Moates finished with 99 yards receiving on four catches, while Taylor had 97 yards on four receptions.   Emerald freshman quarterback [player_tooltip player_id='1467847' first='Beau' last='Hite'] completed 4-of-9 passes for 70 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Key Holloway ran five times for 67 yards - all in the second half. Holloway, who quarterbacked the Vikings last season, also caught one pass for 26 yards.

WOODRUFF | In Woodruff's home opener Friday, the only thing that could stop the Wolverines was the game clock. Out of Woodruff's 10 possessions, one ended when the Wolverines ran out the first-half clock - on a possession that began with 25 seconds left, while another resulted in Woodruff running the final 7:59 off the game clock. Those other eight ended with touchdowns. The Wolverines added a special teams score as well to move to 3-0 with a 62-35 win over Emerald.