CHARMCO, W.Va. — On a chilly Friday night with field conditions far from ideal, Williamstown’s offense answered the call to lead the No. 5 Yellowjackets to a 34-22 win at No. 4 Greenbrier West in a Class A quarterfinal.
Just as the Yellowjackets have done throughout the season, they relied on senior tailback Ty Moore, who delivered with 233 rushing yards and his team’s last three touchdowns.
“He’s one of those guys you can always count on,” Williamstown head coach Terry Smith said. “He runs hard on everything we do and lifts hard constantly. He’s gotten better and better as far as reading blocks. He always runs hard.”
The victory sends Williamstown (10-2) into a semifinal next week against the winner of Saturday’s matchup between No. 1 Doddridge County-No. 8 East Hardy, but it didn’t come easily for the Yellowjackets.
After facing a 21-0 halftime deficit, Greenbrier West (10-2) forced a three-and-out to start the second half, then covered 74 yards in 11 plays and scored on Noah Brown’s 1-yard run on fourth-and-goal. Brown had been brought down on a previous fourth-and-goal play, but a Williamstown facemask gave the Cavaliers another try.
Quarterback Kaiden Pack ran in the two-point conversion and the Yellowjackets lead was down to 21-8 with 4:44 left in the third.
Greenbrier West got the ball back just over 2 minutes later after forcing another three-and-out. The Cavaliers then covered 45 yards in six plays and closed the deficit to seven points on Brown’s 13-yard TD run 19 seconds before the start of the fourth quarter.
“In the second half, we decided to block some people and we found some places we could move the football,” Greenbrier West head coach Toby Harris said.
The start of the final period was pivotal to Williamstown, which faced a first-and-20 following a 15-yard penalty, but moved the chains on a 23-yard pass from Brayden Modesitt to Trevor Oates. Moore followed with a 27-yard run and finished off the drive by reaching the end zone from 16 yards out with 9:37 to play.
The point-after try failed, leaving WHS with a 27-14 lead.
Pack’s 14-yard pass to Levi Weikle on fourth-and-11 kept hope alive for the Cavaliers, who got a 9-yard rushing TD from Brown with 5:28 to play. Brown also ran in the two-point try, closing the Cavaliers deficit to five points with 5:28 remaining.
Greenbrier West tried a squib/onside kick that Williamstown recovered at the Cavaliers’ 48. Moore broke off a 35-yard run on the first play of the ensuing series, then sealed the verdict when he reached the end zone from 5 yards with 2:45 left.
“Our guys were getting blocked up front (on defense) and at our level it’s the same guys on offense and defense. I think they were really kind of mad about it,” Smith said. “They stepped up and said, ‘We’re going to score and put this game away.’”
Oates intercepted Pack in the red zone on the ensuing series with 41 seconds left.
Williamstown was dominant throughout the first two quarters.
The Yellowjackets got a 42-yard run from Moore on their first play from scrimmage that helped set the tone on a 90-yard touchdown drive. Modesitt connected with Logan Richards on a 22-yard pass on fourth-and-9 for the game’s first score, which was followed by one of four point-after kicks from Joshua Erb.
Modesitt intercepted Pack in the second quarter and his 25-yard return allowed the Yellowjackets to start at the Cavaliers’ 12. Richards’ 5-yard TD run extended the Williamstown lead to 14-0 at the 7:07 mark of the second, and Moore scored his first of three touchdowns from 10 yards out 2:22 before halftime.
“Our kids played really well the first half,” Smith said. “We might have had a little bit of a letdown after, but Greenbrier West is so good and made some nice plays.”
Moore had 17 carries for 141 yards at the intermission and finished with 29 rushing attempts.
“That was the difference. We came back and got some points. We just couldn’t stop him,” Harris said. “That’s the bottom line.”