ALL-AREA FOOTBALL: Eagles' Woodard selected top offensive player

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on December 19, 2015 11:11 PM

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rcoggins@newsargus.com

Thank God for mama.

Each Friday night that Mike Woodard got home after a football game, there were ice packets and a good bath waiting for the Rosewood senior running back.

He definitely needed.

The main workhorse in the Eagles' offense, Woodard turned in his second consecutive 1,000-yard season -- 1,544 yards to be exact.

In three years, he compiled a 3,836 yards and 48 touchdowns on 545 carries. And he never seemed to get tired -- or, at least let opposing defenses see any signs of Woodard slowing down.

"(Coach Britt) said it was going to be a big year for our offense," Woodard said. "In the game, I just stayed focused and know it's my job so I can't complain about how many times I get the ball.

"I know if I need a breather, I have other players who have my back. I wasn't really worried about my yards or carries, I just worried about winning."

Woodard helped the Eagles average 37.08 points per game -- the best single-season offensive output during Britt's campaign as head coach. The previous high was 39.77 points recorded by the 2003 Rosewood team.

As usual, the soft-spoken but confident Woodard didn't take all of the credit for his success. He recognized the offensive line -- tackles Kaleb Taylor, Luke Teague, brother Montre, nose guard Adam Henn and guard Larry Nance -- for their hard work up front.

"As the season went on, we got our chemistry together," Woodard said. "We wanted to be more explosive (offensively) this year. It's fun, keeps people off of their feet ... see the other team's inemen get tired and try to arm tackle me."