Sports
Refocused Williamstown Ready To Make Run At Playoff Appearance
By: Ian McConville
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The Williamstown Yellow Jackets are in unfamiliar territory.
The Jackets, a team that has been a perennial playoff powerhouse in West Virginia, are in serious danger of missing the postseason for the first time in over eight years. Williamstown is currently on the outside looking in in the latest WVSSAC ranking, which has the Jackets at 19th in its latest poll. The top 16 teams qualify for postseason play.
Williamstown will have an opportunity to make some major moves towards extending its season when it hosts Wirt County on Friday night in a game that is sure to have major playoff implications.
Williamstown brings a 3-3 record into this collision. The Jackets lost their last contest to St. Mary’s, but is coming off of a bye week, which coach Terry Smith says was big for his team in terms of motivation.
“It gave us two weeks to think about it and refocus ourselves,” he said.
The Jackets will definitely have their hands full with the Tigers, who are 4-2 and ranked 11th in West Virginia. Wirt County comes into Friday’s game averaging 38 points per game.
Coach Smith knows that it will be critical for his defense, specifically his defensive line, to turn in a big performance if the Jackets want to win.
“The defense wins games. Our defensive line will have to play well to slow them down,” he said.
On offense, Williamstown will need to get its ground attack going early, led by the dual threat of Dakota Watson and Trace Hart. That will ensure that when quarterback Jake Tracewell throws, it’s because he wants to, not because he needs to.
There is no doubt that Williamstown will need to win the rest of its games in order to make the postseason, but Smith is doing his best to make sure his team remains focused on the task at hand and takes the remainder of the season one game at a time.
“We have to talk about Friday night. That’s all we can control,” Smith said.