Woodruff Defeats Chesnee

The Woodruff Wolverines added another win to their 2025 campaign as they defeated the Chesnee Eagles by a final score of 52-17. Youth Night (and Toga Night in the student section) brought a lively crowd out to WL Varner Stadium Friday Night as the 3-1 Eagles came to town, fresh off a win of their own last week against RS Central.

Woodruff wasted no time getting themselves in scoring position as they started from the opposing 36 yard line on the opening return, setting the table for standout RB Aidan Gibson. Gibson took the opening handoff 28 yards downfield, setting up a first and goal where he would eventually punch it in to take a 7-0 lead.

Chesnee would then set themselves at the 42 on the kickoff for their first drive. QB Evan Reece Lawter was the beneficiary of a fortuitous bounce on 3 and 8 as his pass to his intended target was tipped short of the line to gain, only to wind up in the hands of RB Marquez Franklin, standing beyond the line to gain. That would be as far as the Eagles would get as the Wolverine defensive front forced Chesnee into a punt, where the snap alluded the hands of the punter and landed at their own 42 yard line.

Another short field for the Wolverines lead to another quick scoring drive as 1 play after a holding call backed up the Wolverines to their own 49, WR Kayden Barnaby took an end around 51 yards for the score. Only 6 plays into the game and Woodruff quickly amassed a 14-0 lead.

The Eagles second drive of the game found the score sheet as a host of Woodruff penalties pushed the ball downfield and set the Eagles to kick a field goal and make it a 14-3 game. This would be closest the Eagles would get in this game though as the Wolverines controlled the remainder of the game in the trenches. Aidan Gibson would find the end zone on the very next drive as he patiently picked his way through the Eagles defense to give the Wolverines a 21-3 lead.

The Eagles would find the end zone with 8:27 to go in the 2nd quarter as Lawter found WR Taven Pesaro from 8 yards out to cut the lead to 21-10. The Wolverines would tack on a FG to take a 24-10 lead into the locker room.

The second half saw much of the same, albeit with RB Jaylen Lyles tagging in for Gibson after he added one more touchdown to his total to start the scoring in the 3rd. After struggling to keep up with the pressure faced by the Wolverine defensive line, the Eagles did string together a nice offensive drive, with Lawter striking from deep down field through the air and ultimately setting up RB Blake Cochran to carry it into the end zone from 15 yards out.

After that, it was the Jaylen Lyles show. Lyles took his first handoff of the second half 65 yards for the score. Following a surprise onside, Lyles would strike again on the ground, this time from 38 yards out to put the Wolverines up again and put the game out of reach.

What’s Next

The Chesnee Eagles fell to 3-2 on the season. Ultimately this game came down to the Eagles not having control of the line of scrimmage on either side of the ball. Lawter was under constant pressure throughout and was left with little room to scramble on option read plays. The Eagles will have a bye week to regroup before traveling on the road to Blacksburg.

The Woodruff Wolverines improve to 5-0 on the season. While you have to love the complete performance if you’re a Woodruff fan, this game was not without its flaws. The penalties racked up in this game for Woodruff on both sides of the ball. They’ll look to improve this coming week as the get a matchup with Wren on Friday night.