A big senior season has led to Teays Valley’s Jayden Woods being named the 41st winner of the Bill McGaffney Award recognizing the top senior football player in Pickaway County.
“He’s just a class kid, first of all,” TV coach Brian Cross said. “The reason he’s successful is because of his tremendous work ethic, and nobody outworks that guy. He lives in the weight room. He does things the right way. He really cares about football. He wants to be the best he can be.
“And not only football, but in everything. He’s a very good student. Those kinds of kids are hard to come by, that they can put academics and athletics together and then have the work ethic that he had during the off season – unbelievable.”
Better known to area football fans as Spike, Woods ran for 1,029 yards this season and scored 11 touchdowns against a schedule that featured six opponents that qualified for the playoffs.
“It was definitely a fun season. Definitely not an easy season, though,” Woods said. “We had some tougher losses, tougher games that the team didn’t get the points we wanted or didn’t play how we wanted. It was definitely a great grind season that I wouldn’t trade for anything else.”
Woods also started at linebacker on defense where he recorded 61 tackles (36 solo), with an interception and recovered two fumbles.
“That’s really difficult to do, especially with our schedule,” Cross said of playing on both sides of the ball. “We’re one of the smallest schools in our league and we’re playing people that have maybe three kids going both ways, and we had six or seven. And that takes its toll throughout a season. It takes its toll in practice, and then it takes its toll by the end of the season, when it rolls around. It wears on you. And for him to do both for us, along with six other guys, kind of an amazing group of kids.
“So very proud of him going both ways and playing the entire season.
“We run the football, so he runs the ball 15 to 24, 25 times a game, and he takes a beating there, and then he goes over and plays outside linebacker for us. So, obviously he’s a very tough kid, physical kid.”
The opportunity to be on the field as much as he was is something Woods enjoyed.
“I definitely wouldn’t trade it for anything. It definitely is not an easy task, but you know, coaches condition us in the summer and through the season,” Woods said. “It’s really like a more mental and, like, heart kind of thing, because you know you’ve got to be out there for your teammates.
“It’s score a touchdown and you’ve got to come right back on defense. So, it’s really just a more mental kind of thing you want to do for your brothers rather than being tired for yourself.”
Being on the field for most of the plays this season comes after missing the last seven games as a junior with a lisfrank tear in his left foot.
The injury kept Woods from conditioning until the winter.
“That was definitely a tough process. I wasn’t able to train or squat, lift weights, really, until February,” Woods said. “It was definitely a tough mental battle, honestly, but coaches, teammates, family, friends, you know, they helped me really get through it.”
After running for more than 800 yards as a sophomore, Woods was off to a strong start to his junior year before his season came to a close after three games.
“He battled back from it and then the first game this year against Grove City, he dings his foot and he gets nervous, he thinks he might be done,” Cross said. “Then he came back the next week and battled and just had a great season.”
Woods’ ability has been recognized at the next level as he recently committed to playing football at Butler University in Indianapolis. And he’s looking at studying exercise science or kinesiology with the goal of being an athletic trainer.
Toledo had made an offer prior to his junior season, and he said he had been seen some interest from a few other schools in the Mid-American Conference along with talking to a few other programs.
“But the whole offer thing is kind of screwed up because of the transfer portal and they’d rather have older guys, rather than a high school guy,” Woods said.
“Butler actually showed a lot of interest in me. I actually really liked it, I liked the coaches,” Woods said. “My family liked the school. It’s obviously a really good, academic school, so I thought it was just the right place for me.”
The opportunity to play for the Bulldogs, a Division I FCS member of the Pioneer League, fulfills a life-long dream.
“I’ve had these dreams since I was a little kid to be able to play collegiate football, so it’s just something I want to be able to fulfill no matter where it takes me in life,” Woods said. “I want to give thanks to my dad for introducing me to the game at such a young age. Being able to be out there with my friends is just probably one of the best feelings.
“I’ll never get high school football back, so I’m very grateful for it.”
Cross looks forward to seeing how Woods performs when he can concentrate on playing on just one side of the ball when he gets to Butler.
“I think he’s got a lot of great football ahead of him,” Cross said. “It should be a little bit easier to stay healthy because he’s not taking as many hits going both ways as he did in high school.
“But he’s just a class act kid. They don’t come any better.”
So why is he called Spike?
As a youngster he really enjoyed watching the movie Little Giants (starring Rick Moranis and Ed O’Neill). Spike (played by Sam Horrigan) was the best player on the team and kind of a crazy character. “I just really liked the name,” he said. “I was like a young three- or four-year-old, and it just stuck.”
McGaffney Award Winners
1985 — John Berry, Westfall
1986 — Sean White, Logan Elm
1987 — Shane Roese, Teays Valley
1988 — Bill Currence, Logan Elm
1989 — Lance Gibson, Westfall
1990 — Bill Davis, Westfall
1991 — Shawn Buescher, Westfall
1992 — Brian Dollison, Westfall
1993 — Greg Colburn, Westfall
1994 — Nate Hamman, Circleville
1995 — Billy Hamilton, Circleville
1996 — Lance Heath, Westfall
1997 — Brian Bigam, Circleville
1998 — Gavin Cupp, Logan Elm
1999 — Joe Lewis, Teays Valley
2000 — Matt Colopy, Logan Elm
2001 — Tyler Jenkins, Logan Elm
2002 — Aaron Palmer, Circleville
2003 — Brice Redman, Westfall
2004 — Wade Bartholomew, Westfall
2005 — Evan Blake, Logan Elm
2006 — Kevin Smith, Westfall
2007 — Drew Clanin, Circleville
2008 — D.J. Cain, Westfall
2009 — Johnnie Brown, Logan Elm
2010 — K.C. Hawkins, Circleville
2011 — Anthony Vagnier, Logan Elm
2012 — Trent Williamson, Westfall
2013 — David Burroughs, Circleville
2014 — Anthony Jones, Teays Valley
2015 — Drew Pennington, Teays Valley
2016 — Logan Holbert, Logan Elm
2017 — Brandon Coleman, Teays Valley
2018 — Taylor Robinson, Teays Valley
2019 — Tristan McDanel, Teays Valley
2020 — Conner Robinson, Logan Elm
2021 — Peyton Weiler, Teays Valley
2022 — Blayton Reid, Logan Elm
2023 — Bryce Wickline, Westfall
2024 — Michael Bock, Logan Elm
2025 — Jayden ‘Spike’ Woods, Teays Valley
Award winners by school: Circleville (7), Logan Elm (12), Teays Valley (9), Westfall (13)
— Bill McGaffney was the longtime sports editor at the Circleville Herald.