Speedy senior leads Woodstock football to victory

Published: 10-13-2024 6:00 PM |
WOODSTOCK — In longtime Woodstock High football coach Ramsey Worrell’s run-heavy offense, there’s really no such thing as a bell cow. The constant rotation of runners means that there’s no real chance for one back to carry most of the load and affect the game in an outsized way.
That is, unless the running back does the absolute most with the allotment of touches he’s given — like Caeden Perreault did in Woodstock’s 41-23 win over Lyndon on Friday night.
The speedy senior, playing his final regular-season game at McLaughlin Field, scored four touchdowns, including both on a punt and a kick return, as the Wasps (6-0) aced their biggest test of the regular season so far against a tough foe in Division II Lyndon (5-2).
“Stud,” Worrell said when asked to describe his back, who racked up over 220 total yards on scoring plays alone. “Division I, II, III, he’s one of the best players in the state. The stats don’t always show it, but when there’s a big game, he shows up.”
Perreault’s performance was the highlight of a three-phase clinic from the Wasps. On offense, Woodstock ran the ball very effectively, sparing quarterback Aksel Oates his blushes on a night where he finished with just one more completion (two) than intercepted passes (one). Defensively, Woodstock effectively silenced Lyndon’s spread offense, swarming to the ball and refusing to be caught off-guard by the many different looks the Vikings presented.
But it was the third phase, special teams, where the Wasps really shined. Great coverage units prevented any damaging returns and kept Lyndon on from gaining field position while also recovering two onside kicks. On the receiving end, Perreault averaged more than 30 yards per return – not just making two house calls but constantly giving the Wasps great field position with his returns.
“We practice them a lot — sometimes too much,” said Worrell of special teams. “But it’s so important to execute. There’s three phases of the game, and we did really well in the third one today.”
After a first quarter and most of a second quarter that passed without anything showing up on the scoreboard, both teams turned up the intensity in a hotly contested final three minutes of the half. Perreault opened the scoring with 2:36 on the clock from four yards out to cap a 29-yard scoring drive that he set up with a 23-yard punt return.
Article continues after...
Yesterday's Most Read Articles




And he wasn’t done.
After a three-and-out from the Lyndon offense, Perreault found himself under a Lyndon punt at his own 25-yard line. Fielding it and immediately making a man miss, Perreault found a crease and flew past the Lyndon coverage team for a 75-yard score.
The blitz of unanswered points seemed to wake up the Lyndon offense. In just four plays and 34 seconds, the Vikings marched down the field, halving the deficit as Ethan Lussier found Beckett Bailey for a two-yard receiving touchdown.
If the Vikings wanted momentum going into the half, though, they shouldn’t have kicked to Perreault. He caught the kick and split the defense right down the middle before scampering down the left sideline for a backbreaking 75-yard touchdown with just 9 seconds on the clock to restore Woodstock’s two-score advantage.
After a penalty-ridden quarter for both teams, Perreault scored touchdown No. 4 with 17 seconds to go in the third quarter, flying 67 yards through the middle of the Lyndon defense to give Woodstock a 20-point lead heading into the fourth stanza.
From there, it was penalties and a few more scores as the Wasps closed out the night after weathering Lyndon’s comeback attempt.
The Vikings scored twice and managed two-point conversions on both scores but couldn’t come up with the onside kick on either one or stop the Woodstock offense from grinding the game out.
Vincent Petrone delivered the final blow of the night, punching home from two yards out with 22 seconds on the clock to restore Woodstock’s advantage to the final margin of 18.
Woodstock, in a tight race for the top seed in Division III with fellow undefeated BFA-Fairfax, will close its regular season by making the familiar 18-mile drive to face longtime time rival Windsor, which is in a rebuilding mode. Still, Worrell is expecting a battle.
“They’re Oklahoma; we’re Texas,” Worrell said of the two teams, comparing them to another pair of football rivals. “We know what they do; they know what we do. It’ll always be a big game, regardless of the record.”
Kickoff at McLeay-Royce Field in Windsor is slated for 1 p.m. on Saturday.