But the Wildcats haven't always finished those long, clock-eating drives.
On Friday at Creekview, Woodland cashed in numerous times for a 38-21 win, which ended the Grizzlies' season rather somberly.
"The last two or three weeks, if we finish our drives, we're at least in (those games)," said Wildcats coach Steve Hamilton, whose team had lost three straight games. "We have just consistently gotten better and better, and (Friday) night we finished every drive.
"It's the kind of thing we thought if we ever started finishing those drives we could be really good ... and the defense was really good (Friday) night. ... And Garrett Livingood had to kick off seven times and put 'em all 8 yards into the end zone, so that makes it easy, too."
Creekview (3-7, 3-7 Region 7-AAAA), which endured its first losing season since its inception four years ago, went three-and-out in its first two possessions.
Meanwhile, Woodland controlled the clock and the ball early as it drove down the field and scored two touchdowns -- on Cambrell Turner's 22-yard run and Ashton Shelton's 68-yard run -- to take a 14-0 lead.
The Grizzlies finally found the end zone in the second quarter, as Hayden Hall connected with Dondrei Hubbard on 30-, 28- and 4-yard passes, the latter putting the hosts on the board.
Taking a cue from Creekview, the Wildcats unfurled their passing attack with Shelton hitting Turner for a 78-yard TD to extend the lead to 20-7.
Hall and Hubbard hooked up for a 48-yard completion to get the Grizzlies into Woodland territory, but the drive stalled and Creekview came away without any points following a missed field goal.
Woodland had entered the game having given up more than 30 points in six of its eight games. That stat gave the Grizzlies some hope for a comeback as the second half started.
The optimism didn't last long.
The Wildcats came out of the half and scored on a 12-play, 80-yard drive that took more than 5 minutes off the clock as Shelby Townsend ran in the TD from 4 yards out for a 26-7 Woodland lead.
Creekview answered with an 80-yard scoring drive to cut the deficit to 26-14, but Woodland was equal to the challenge.
The Wildcats again drove the ball 80 yards, with the last 15 coming on the legs of Shelton, who put his team up 32-14.
The two long possessions ate up the third quarter, which left little time for Creekview in the fourth quarter. The two scores by the Wildcats left the Grizzlies in a big hole.
When the last quarter of Creekview's season started, the Grizzlies tried to start a comeback. A long drive took a lot of time off the clock but yielded no points after stalling at the 2.
Shelton scored on the next play with a 98-yard run. The run gave Shelton more than 200 yards rushing in the game.
A late touchdown pass from Hall to Donovan Deal added to the Grizzlies' tally on the scoreboard.
Hamilton said Shelton led the Wildcats with 241 yards and three TDs on 19 carries. The senior quarterback also added a two-point conversion and had 78 yards passing and a score.
Turner, he said, rushed 16 times for 124 yards and a TD, with another score coming on his 78-yard TD reception.
Woodland finished the game with 516 total yards (438 on 53 carries).
"We've gotten better and that's certainly one thing you'd like to see from your team," Hamilton said.
The fourth-year coach said when your team's playing well you'd like to go back and play some of those earlier games, but the Wildcats will have to settle for playing spoiler.
Woodland (2-7, 2-7) hosts Sequoyah Friday with the Chiefs (5-4, 5-4) -- battling for their playoff lives -- needing a win and a Rome loss to advance to the state playoffs.
"We get to treat it like its (our) playoff game," Hamilton said of his team's season finale. "They're (Chiefs) going to be playing for that (final playoff spot)."
The game kicks off at 7:30 p.m. at Wildcat Stadium.
-- Information from The Cherokee Tribune used in this article.