— By Eric Little
For the second week in a row, the Williamstown Yellowjackets hit the road for a big playoff game. With a win, Williamstown earns a trip to the Super Six. Here’s a look at this week’s game:
Class A
No. 6 Williamstown (10-2) at No. 2 Midland Trail (12-0)
When: Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Greenbrier East High School
Last Week: For the second straight week, Williamstown turned a strong second half into a playoff win.
Against Summers County in the first round, the Yellowjackets carried a one-point lead into the locker room before pulling away late.
In the quarterfinals against Mount View, it was a four-point Yellowjacket lead that turned into a 23-12 win. Williamstown outscored Mount View 10-6 in the second half.
Midland Trail advanced their record to 12-0 with a 20-14 win over Sherman in the state quarterfinals.
It was just the fifth time all season the Patriots have allowed 10 or more points in a game. They’ve allowed a total of 16 points in their two playoff games and have only allowed 20 points once all year.
Why It’s Important: For Williamstown, a win sets up a rematch with one of the two teams that beat them in the regular season, with Wheeling Central and Doddridge County facing off in the other Class A semifinal. A win would also send the Yellowjackets to Wheeling Island for the first time since 2014, when they defeated St. Marys in triple overtime to win the Class A state championship.
A win for Midland Trail marks the next step for a program that’s been a contender atop the Class A heap for the last few years, but hasn’t yet appeared on Wheeling Island for a Super Six. It would also keep their quest for a perfect season alive for at least one more week.
Who to Watch for Williamstown: The Williamstown defense doesn’t get the credit they deserve, but once again, the Yellowjacket ‘D’ rose to the occasion in the win over Mount View. Donathan Taylor’s interception and Leewood Molessa’s strip sack provided two key takeaways for Williamstown.
Offensively, Taylor and Ty Moore both had touchdown runs for the Yellowjackets. Moore racked up 79 rushing yards for Williamstown as a ground complement for Taylor, with much of that coming on a big run to set up his own one-yard touchdown run halfway through the fourth quarter.
Moore’s emergence as a secondary backfield threat happened almost by accident; Moore filled in for an injured Taylor earlier this season against Warren Local, Ohio and ran for 228 yards and four touchdowns.
Williamstown has a steady presence at quarterback in Carter Haynes, who is just as capable with his legs as he is with his throwing arm. In addition to joining Taylor and Moore as backfield weapons, he also connects with the likes of Eric Brown, Mason Deem and Nick Bondi in the passing game.
The passing game is much more developed than it was earlier in the season, which has added a dimension to the Williamstown offense.
Big postseason games often come down to special teams, but Williamstown may hold an edge in that department with Boston Caruthers. He drilled three field goals, with his longest coming from 33 yards. It was the end of a pretty good week for Caruthers, who pulls double duty on the soccer team and was just named to the Class A all-state team for his work on the pitch this season.