WILLIAMSTOWN, W.Va. — Despite a 1-4 start to the 2025 season, Williamstown found a way to extend their playoff streak to 26 years. The Yellowjackets surged late to finish the regular season at 5-5 before falling to eventual champion Frankfort in the opening round of the playoffs.
“It speaks to the program and the foundation we have set and those guys carrying that tradition,” said Williamstown head coach Chris Beck. “There’s definitely a feeling of you don’t want to be that class that lets that streak fall off. Those guys finished strong last year and got in the playoffs. And I really think we were a top ten AA team last year. That’s just my opinion based on the schedule we played.”
“It is something you’ve got to go through because it is God’s plan,” said Williamstown junior QB/DB Breck Allen. “It is going to happen if he wants it to happen. I think it showed us a lot of adversity. Coming off of state championships, we really needed to be humbled a little more. I think we are going to come back with that same grit we used to have.”
In a season where growing pains were expected with a younger and less experienced roster, Williamstown may now be on the receiving end following a year of transition. Only six seniors were lost to graduation.
“A lot of kids grow up between their sophomore and junior seasons, ” Beck said. “It seems to be a big spurt in growth. Between that and the weight room work, I think they have really mentally matured and physically matured.”
Breck Allen was an every-game starter at quarterback in his sophomore season. He accounted for 1,973 total yards and 20 total touchdowns and Allen returns with a wealth of experience leading the WHS offense.
“I think he has improved the most out of anyone on this entire team,” said Williamstown senior lineman Christian Hoosier. “In the weight room, he has been stepping up. In confidence, he has been stepping up. He just looks completely different. He looks like a different player to me.”
“I think Breck was only 80 or 90 yards away from maybe a school record last year,” Beck said. “He threw for 1,400 yards, right in that range. Do I expect that number to go up? Possibly it could. It is all about what the defense does.”
Fellow junior Jackson Fulton will join Allen in the backfield at running back. Fulton was the team’s second-leading receiver last fall with 24 catches for 318 yards.
“He is a dynamic athlete and a playmaker,” Beck said. “He is really shifty and really sees the field well. He had a great offseason. I don’t want to say what his strength was going into last year but in the weight room, significant gains.”
First team All-State lineman Christian Hoosier returns after racking up 71 tackles and six sacks as a junior.
“Last year in a lot of our games, they wouldn’t even run the football to him,” Allen said. “It is nice to have a guy like that that can shut down one side of the field and also be a fear monger on the offensive side.”
“This is the 19th year I have been an assistant or a head coach and he is as physically gifted as anybody we have ever had,” Beck said. “He owns the school record for squat and bench. He runs a sub-4.9 40 [yard dash]. He jumps out of the gym and physically he is just unbelievably gifted.”
Coming off their earliest playoff exit in a completed season since 2017, the Yellowjackets have set a high bar of expectations — state title No. 5 and their third title in five years.
“It is tough. That’s what you expect when you come to Williamstown,” Hoosier said. “It is going to be hard. You have high expectations. It is what this program is.”
“They are capable,” Beck said. “It is a matter of everyone buying in, doing their job, continuing to get better every week. The standard is the standard here. We want to win championships. This group knows that and I think they are looking forward to that challenge.”