By: Wes McKinney
WILLIAMSTOWN, W.Va. — Behind the offensive production of quarterback Jake Tracewell, the Williamstown Yellow Jackets returned to the state semifinals in 2013. Tracewell, who amassed over 2,000 yards of total offense, steered Williamstown past Wheeling Central and Bishop Donahue in the postseason before falling to eventual Class A state champion Madonna.
“I think our seniors did a good job,” Williamstown head coach Terry Smith said. “Our offensive line played really well. A lot of those guys hadn’t played before and I was impressed by Jake Tracewell. He was our quarterback and our safety. He put us in a lot of good situations.”
Senior Dakota Watson will shift from tailback to quarterback to fill the void left by the now-graduated Tracewell.
“Dakota played quarterback when he was younger,” Smith said. “He would step in at quarterback in youth league whenever Jake would move up to the next age group.”
Watson will shoulder a heavy burden in Smith’s offense as Williamstown’s offense continues to shift and evolve.
“We used to line up and try to run over people,” Smith explained. “When you got to the playoffs, that didn’t always work because other teams had good defensive lines. With everyone going to the shotgun now, we evolved our offense the last two seasons to lean more on our quarterback.”
A wealth of experience returns for the Yellow Jackets headlined by running backs Austin Raines and Mike Beck, as well as second team all-state lineman D.J. Kerns, who will start at center. Smith expects production from receivers Hunter Neely and Logan Lindsey.
“I expect us to be pretty good,” Smith said. “We have put the bar up there pretty high. I don’t know how good we will be, it just comes down to each game.”
Williamstown will begin 2014 with three straight road games against Tyler Consolidated, Magnolia and Marietta (OH).
“I expect Tyler to be better this year with their head coach in his second season,” Smith said. “Magnolia has a new coach, but he played at Magnolia, so that will be a tough game. Marietta and Williamstown are right next to each other and that’s always a big game.”
A couple of other intriguing matchups on Williamstown’s slate include be back-to-back matchups with Ravenswood and St. Marys in late September and early October.
| WILLIAMSTOWN 2014 Football Schedule |
||||||||
| 1 | 08/29/14 07:00PM | A | TYLER CONSOLIDATED | – | ||||
| 2 | 09/05/14 07:30PM | A | MAGNOLIA | – | ||||
| 3 | 09/12/14 07:00PM | A | MARIETTA,OH H.S. | – | ||||
| 4 | 09/19/14 07:00PM | H | OAK GLEN | – | ||||
| 5 | 09/26/14 07:30PM | A | RAVENSWOOD | – | ||||
| 6 | 10/03/14 07:00PM | H | ST. MARYS | – | ||||
| 7 | 10/10/14 07:30PM | H | OPEN | – | ||||
| 8 | 10/17/14 07:00PM | H | WIRT COUNTY | – | ||||
| 9 | 10/24/14 07:00PM | H | PARKERSBURG CATHOLIC | – | ||||
| 10 | 10/31/14 07:30PM | A | RITCHIE COUNTY | – | ||||
| 11 | 11/07/14 07:30PM | A | ROANE COUNTY | – | ||||
| wins: 0 lost: 0 ties: 0 | ||||||||
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