WOODLAWN - Despite turning over the ball five times and suffering some untimely penalties, the ailing Woodlawn Bears still had a chance to at least tie the game on the final play of Friday night's game against the Class 4A Genoa Central Dragons.
But Brayden Jones' pass near the endzone was intercepted and the Bears had their sixth turnover as the Dragons held on for 22-14 non-conference win at the Carl Jones Sports Complex.
It was Woodlawn's first loss of the year as it fell to 2-1. Genoa Central improved to 1-1. Despite the loss, Bears Coach Zach Meyer was mainly upbeat about the heart his team showed after having to basically re-tool the offense and defense last week due to injuries to a couple of key two-way starters. Aden Moore was unable to play at all while Garrett Weatherford was very limited. Both juniors play quarterback and running back on offense, and are starting cornerbacks on defense.
Meyer learned last Tuesday just three days before the game that Moore would not be able to play due to a shoulder injury. Moore had rushed for more than 100 yards in his first two games this season and also threw for more than 100 yards with two touchdowns in the previous week's 44-16 win over Midland.
Weatherford, meanwhile, played extensively at both quarterback and running back over the first two games before injurying is ankle early in the second quarter against Midland.
That left Jones as the only starting running back/quarterback on the roster. Meyer starter Jones at quarterback against Genoa Central while Ethan Adair lined up at I back and Ethan Oliver at fullback. While both Adair and Oliver had seen some snaps in those positions this season, but neither were in starting roles.
Defensively, Jones was moved from linebacker to cornerback while Aidan Johnson was moved from defensive end to linebacker. Overall, Woodlawn had about 14 healthy players suited up for the game while Genoa Central had about 40 av...
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