Friday night at home against Purcellville rival Loudoun Valley, forward-center Dane Marsh scored 18 points and grabbed 21 rebounds to lead Woodgrove to a 51-45 overtime victory.
The Wolverines were down two starters (Kenny Chicas and Matthew Rafert) to injury, but rivalry games aren’t about making excuses.
“First win against Valley for me at home,” said Marsh after the game. “We played as a team, and it shows you how good we could be when everyone is healthy.”
Marsh led the effort, both offensively and defensively. The 6’7″ Marsh protected the paint on defense, coming up with numerous blocked shots. On offense he was effective near the basket. A solid three-point shooter, he missed all his attempts from long range on the evening, but still found his teammates open for buckets with passes from the perimeter. He was relentless cleaning up misses on the glass. He was the focal point of everything for Woodgrove.
Even with two of his important teammates out, Marsh said he didn’t feel too much pressure having to produce more, and his exceptional rebounding night was just business as usual.
“It’s just, we play as a team, it takes everyone to win,” he said. [The rebounding] is what I’ve always been taught to do.”
While Marsh was a big factor, the Wolverines (2-3) definitely needed more than him to pull out the victory. Marsh picked up his third foul in the first half, and though he still managed to play most of the game, he needed help.
Tristen Conrad capped a 9-0 Valley run in the third quarter with a three-pointer to give his team a 29-28 lead, but Woodgrove ended the run when William Twetten found fellow junior Caleb Roach open for a three-pointer. The game remained nip-and-tuck for the rest of regulation, with neither team able to break a 45-45 tie in the closing minutes.
Woodgrove’s defense was exceptional in the extra period, holding Valley without a point. Twetten came up with a key steal, and while Woodgrove had trouble scoring late as well, the Wolverines were able to get to the free throw line and hit enough to provide the final margin of victory.
Defense was key, as the home team held Valley to 27.5% shooting from the field. Woodgrove also held the Vikings (4-3), a dangerous team from long-range, to 2-23 shooting from beyond the arc. Marsh was often there to make sure Loudoun Valley didn’t get a follow on their misses.
It was a hard-fought, physical affair befitting of a rivalry game. While his team didn’t have a good shooting night, Valley junior guard-forward Tal Rose had excellent production with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Twetten added 11 points for Woodgrove, and junior forward Leo Walker had 10 points and eight boards.
The two teams have another non-district tilt scheduled for Friday, February 7th. While Chicas and Rafert are expected back well before that for Woodgrove, this time the game will be held on the Vikings’ home court.
–Chris Jollay
all statistics are unofficial
| WOODGROVE | FG | FT | TP | REB | AST | |
| TWETTEN | 4-6 | 1-4 | 11 | 2 | 4 | |
| ROACH | 3-7 | 0-0 | 7 | 8 | 0 | |
| PENDLETON | 0-3 | 0-0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | |
| WALKER | 4-8 | 1-2 | 10 | 8 | 1 | |
| MARSH | 8-23 | 2-5 | 18 | 21 | 4 | |
| Zuczek | 1-4 | 2-3 | 5 | 1 | 1 | |
| Wilson | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| TOTALS | 20-51 | 6-14 | 51 | 44 | 11 | |
| Threes: Twetten 2-4, Walker 1-2, Roach 1-4, Zuczek 1-4, Pendleton 0-2, Marsh 0-4 | ||||||
| LOUDOUN VALLEY | FG | FT | TP | REB | AST | |
| O’CONNOR | 4-13 | 2-4 | 11 | 4 | 0 | |
| CONRAD | 3-18 | 0-0 | 7 | 4 | 4 | |
| ROSE | 9-18 | 2-2 | 20 | 10 | 0 | |
| GAFFNEY | 2-7 | 0-0 | 4 | 6 | 2 | |
| SABA | 1-7 | 1-4 | 3 | 8 | 1 | |
| Hendricks | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Hasle | 0-3 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Ryun | 0-3 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| TOTALS | 19-69 | 5-10 | 45 | 34 | 7 | |
| Threes: O’Connor 1-7, Conrad 1-10, Gaffney 0-1, Ryun 0-1, Rose 0-4 | ||||||