Bears Struggle To Contain Cedar Ridge; Fall in Title Game

  • TACKLES FOR LOSSES - Despite giving up more than 500 yards of total offense, the Woodlawn defense did have it moments. Here, Woodlawn seniors Aiden Powell (left), Matthew Green (center) and Dakota Campbell trap a Cedar Ridge running back in the backfield for a loss. The Bears had 10 tackles behind the line of scrimmage for 55 yards in losses.
    TACKLES FOR LOSSES - Despite giving up more than 500 yards of total offense, the Woodlawn defense did have it moments. Here, Woodlawn seniors Aiden Powell (left), Matthew Green (center) and Dakota Campbell trap a Cedar Ridge running back in the backfield for a loss. The Bears had 10 tackles behind the line of scrimmage for 55 yards in losses.
  • SOLID GAME FOR CULLIFORD - Woodlawn junior running back Ace Culliford had one of his best performances of the season in the state championship game racking up 79 yards rushing on 10 carries, second only to quarterback Ethan Saeler’s 140-yard effort. Culliford’s 7.9 yard per carry average was the best on the team.
    SOLID GAME FOR CULLIFORD - Woodlawn junior running back Ace Culliford had one of his best performances of the season in the state championship game racking up 79 yards rushing on 10 carries, second only to quarterback Ethan Saeler’s 140-yard effort. Culliford’s 7.9 yard per carry average was the best on the team.
    LITTLE ROCK - Woodlawn simply had no answer for stopping Cedar Ridge quarterback Jonas Elms in last Thursday night’s eight-man state championship game at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.Elms accounted for eight touchdowns in the game: six coming on his 279 yards rushing and two more when completing 7-of-8 pass attempts for 128 yards. His 407 yards of total offense earned him the Most Valuable Player trophy in the Timberwolves’ 74-38 win over the Bears.As a team, Cedar Ridge finished with 540 totals.“We just didn’t do a very good job of tackling,” Woodlawn Coach Doug Means said after the game. “They’re a great team… but we didn’t play very well on defense or offense really. “So we just didn’t do a very good job of playing a tackling game,” he said. “You don’t tackle in football, it’s hard to win.”It wasn’t so much that the Woodlawn offense was struggling. The Bears rolled up 446 yards of total offense on their own, but had four turnovers. The Bears had just two defensive stops against Cedar Ridge. The first came when Griffin Manes intercepted Elms’ pass in the end zone at the 8:41 mark of the second quarter. The next came on the Timberwolves’ following series when Dakota Campbell and Matthew Green had back-to-back tackles for losses that led to a turnover on downs.“The things we did right during the season didn’t go right tonight,” Means said. “We didn’t get any onside kicks. We got a lot of those during the season. We didn’t get very many turnovers and we just didn’t play very well. Cedar Ridge is a great team but we didn’t play very well tonight.”The defensive problems started early as Cedar Ridge scored on its first three possessions to take a 20-0 lead. Elms capped the first two drives with touchdowns runs of 23 and one yards, while he completed a 47-yard pass to Cash Martin for the other. Woodlawn’s offense, meanwhile, st...

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