Goertler wants title for 'Jackets
Friday, December 2, 2005
By JAY W. BENNETT - The Parkersburg News & The Parkersburg Sentinel

WILLIAMSTOWN - Mike Goertler's been around long enough to know how things work in what has become a football factory at Williamstown High School.

Now a senior, the fullback/free safety for head coach Terry Smith's Yellowjackets is one of the key members of a squad which is not only 13-0 and ranked No. 1 in Class A, but also has captured a state record 46 straight regular season victories.

"I guess you can't make the kids come in during the offseason and lift, but you better know if you don't come somebody is going to step in there and take care of your spot," Goertler said of the year-around work ethic the 'Jacket players put in.

Obviously, things are going in the right direction for a program which didn't win its first postseason football game until a 2001 opening round 28-6 win against Iaeger during Williamstown's final year in Class AA.

Long before Goertler became a familiar face to Yellowjacket fans, both of his parents had strong ties to the community.

Although his mother, Becky, passed away when Goertler was 8, not only was she a former 'Jacket cheerleader and homecoming queen, but she also taught at Williamstown and now has a scholarship named in her honor.

"She taught here and from everybody I talked to she was a good teacher and they liked her a lot," Goertler said of his mother.

"My dad (Glen) wasn't much of a football player because he was real little always, but he always liked baseball and they give out an award here for the outstanding senior athlete and he got that."

Goertler has been quite productive for the Yellowjackets on both sides of the ball. Defensively, he is third on the team with 115 total tackles and has five interceptions. Along with rushing for almost 400 yards and hauling in nearly 250 stripes receiving, he's scored nine touchdowns.

With only the Class A championship game against No. 15 Wheeling Central (9-4), set for a 7 p.m. kickoff Saturday at Wheeling Island Stadium, left on the schedule, Goertler knows everything he and his teammates have worked for is on the line one final time.

"I know that we've lost the big game the past couple years and played our hearts out and I don't want that to happen again," said the senior.

"You try and say, and people talk to you and say it's just another football game, but it's not. I mean this is one of the biggest opportunities we'll ever have."

The last time the opportunity of a championship came around was when Goertler was a sophomore and the 'Jackets fell 20-18 to Moorefield in the final game of the 2003 season.

Knowing what it's been like for the Williamstown program since that defeat, Goertler doesn't want those same feelings of sorrow to be experienced by anyone associated with the Yellowjackets.

"We've never won a state championship in football and we have that opportunity this year and we don't want to let it slide," he said. "You got to be tired of coming up short. We're tired of it."

Contact Jay Bennett via e-mail at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com.