Sports
Overtime Thriller: Williamstown Survives And Captures State Title
By: Griffin Ratcliffe
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In the third overtime of the Single A WVSSAC State Championship, the only relevant factor was passion: Williamstown had just a little more of it.
The Yellow Jackets held off held off St. Mary’s to win 33-32 and capture the state title.
After a 27 yard touchdown pass from Dakota Watson to Hunter Neely in the third overtime, the defense was called upon to secure the win. St. Mary’s snuck through the defense with a two-yard Corey Stewart touchdown run, but instead of going for the tie, the Blue Devils went all in with a two-point conversion.. After a timeout from both squads to get their heads right and the moment came; the Yellow Jackets stopped Jeremy Pratt right in his tracks.
The game wasn’t in the Yellow Jackets favor at all during the first quarter. After three straight St. Marys scores, the Yellow Jackets were stuck in comeback mode for the rest of the game.
That comeback become in the second quarter, beginning with a Watson 10-yard scamper to the house to begin tilting the momentum in Williamstown’s favor. Later in the half, Darren Hastings tilted that momentum even further with a 20-yard scoop and score to cut the deficit even further.
The action remained stagnant in the third with no scoring and both sides turning the ball over once. In other words, this quarter went to the defenses.
In the beginning of the fourth quarter, the game looked to be in the Blue Devils hands. After St. Mary’s rushed the ball all the way down to the red zone, Watson struck again and took back a fumble 75 yards. He was on his way to tie the game up when he was brought down by a horse-collar tackle.. The play injured Watson, but he would not stop. He came back on a fourth down of the ensuing drive and drove his way into the touchdown to tie the game up at twenty.
The game went back and forth all the way until the end of the fourth. 48 minutes was not enough to decide this game.
189 all-purpose yards and a handful of scores later: Watson was the most deserving candidate for game MVP.
Even with all the post-game emotions, Coach Terry Smith told his players one thing: ” We’ll be back.”
This title goes down as the second in Williamstown history, both of which have come under Smith.