WOODLAWN - For a while, it looked like it might be deja vu all over again for the Woodlawn Bears early on its homecoming game against the Friendship Aspire Jaguars last Friday night at the Carl Jones Sports Complex.
The Bears had gotten off to a horrible start in its previous outing two weeks prior at Izard County, turning it over twice and racking up nearly 80 yards in penalties within the first 13 minutes of the game. The Cougars pounced and Woodlawn was never able to recover.
It looked as though that bad streak was going to continue last Friday night when the Bears suffered a turnover on their first play of the game and Friendship, a start-up program in its second year of playing football, turned it into an early lead.
But unlike the Izard County game, Woodlawn quickly recovered and this time the Bears were the ones dominating as they rolled to a 52-14 victory.
“That first quarter was like a nightmare quarter,” Woodlawn Coach Doug Means said about the start at Izard County, admitting there may have a been a bit of carryover early on against Friendship.
“I told them at halftime that the only thing I’m really upset about is how we’re hurting ourselves,” he said, especially in regards to turnovers and unnecessary personal fouls. “Once we start cleaning ourselves up, we’ll do better… and we can be a pretty good football team.”
On the first offensive snap of the game, Woodlawn quarterback Parker Arnold’s pass deflected off the hands of his target and the Jags picked it off, returning it 44 yards to the Woodlawn 8. On fourth down, the Bears’ Griffin Manes intercepted a Jaguar pass in the end zone but fumbled it away as he crossed over the goal line, giving Friendship a fresh set of downs inside the Woodlawn 10.
This time, Friendship punched it in with a nine-yard run. The two-point conversion was stopped but the winless Jags had an early 6-0 lead.
The Bears came back with a 56-yard, seven-play scoring drive capped by what would be the first of Manes’ five touchdowns in …