WILLIAMSTOWN — One of the pivotal plays in Friday night’s Class A semifinal football game at Williamstown actually occurred during the Yellowjackets’ scoring drive following the opening kickoff.
Faced with a third-and-long situation at the WHS 46, quarterback Brandon Roberts dropped back to pass and threw a perfect 48-yard spiral to Benji Powers, who had to stretch out to make the reception at the Mt. Hope 4-yard line.
One play later, Greg Davis ran to paydirt, and Russell Palm kicked the extra point to give Williamstown a 7-0 advantage.
“They were playing up for the run, and we thought maybe we could throw it,” said WHS coach Terry Smith after the No. 2-ranked and undefeated Yellowjackets (13-0) downed the Mustangs, 21-6, to clinch a berth in next Saturday’s state final against Wheeling Central at Wheeling Island Stadium. “Brandon put it where it had to be, and Benji made a super catch.”
Thing is, is that if Roberts’ pass is incomplete or Powers drops it, Williamstown probably punts, and No. 3 and previously undefeated Mt. Hope (12-1) isn’t playing catch-up for the rest of the game — which is what the Mustangs ended up doing.
“That really jump-started us, and allowed us to get ahead,” Smith said.
Roberts agreed and added, “It gave us momentum.”
Williamstown didn’t get on the board again until the second quarter when it scored on two short TD runs by Travis Buttrey and Davis, respectively, to make it 21-0, also the halftime score.
Meanwhile, the Yellowjacket defense was simply a stonewall, and pretty much shut down Mt. Hope’s marquee running back Jamel Shelton, who never did spring a long gainer and finished with 79 hard-fought rushing yards on 22 carries.
“Again our defense came out and played real well, and that’s the name of the game,” Smith said. “Shelton is such a super player, but we were ready to play. We were psyched up, trying to play good defense, and it worked out.”
Mt. Hope had relatively good field position for most of the first half near the midfield but simply couldn’t move the ball effectively against the likes of Ross Elder, L.B. Wingrove, Buttrey and company.
In four offensive possessions in the first half, the Mustangs punted, missed a 45-yard field goal attempt, had a pass intercepted (by Powers), and punted.
“Our kids just did a super job,” Smith said.
After the break, Mt. Hope capitalized on a fumble recovery, and cut it to 21-6 on Shelton’s 3-yard TD run. But then Elder broke through and blocked the Mustangs’ extra-point kick.
“When we blocked that extra point, that might have slowed some of that momentum down,” Smith said. “In the second half, we gave up some yards, and I don’t think you’re going to hold them down. We were just going to try to contain them. They had too many athletes, and they made some good plays.
Mt. Hope still had a lot of time to rally, but never did. Part of the reason was its lack of a passing game.
The Mustangs kept running and Williamstown kept stopping them.
Now, the Jackets next stop is Wheeling Island Stadium.
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Super Six
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