Sports
Preview: Williamstown Won’t Underestimate 14-seed East Hardy
< < Back to ?p=20924November is a crazy month in West Virginia: hunting season starts, Black Friday kicks off the Christmas season, and most importantly, the West Virginia High School Football Playoffs.
Craziness is just how the Single A Playoffs can be described in the first round. In classes AA and AAA, only one lower seed team moved on to the second round. It is another story for Single A as four lower seeded teams moved on to the quarterfinals. Fourteen seed, East Hardy is one of the four teams whom survived and advanced and will travel to Williamstown to take on the Yellow Jackets.
Playoffs have been an expectation for Williamstown. The Yellow Jackets have made the playoffs every year since 2000, when all of Williamtown’s players were toddlers, reaching the state championship game in Wheeling on five occasions. They look to make it once again with the help of their offense, led by quarterback Dakota Watson and running back Hunter Neely.
Last week, the Williamstown Yellow Jackets shut out the Pendleton County Cougars with strong defensive play, twice intercepting the Cougars. That defense has only allowed 33 points over the past five games and only gave up 20 points in its Oct. 3 game against St. Marys.
On the other side of the ball, East Hardy may have a bottom five side, but it plays like a top five team. They have averaged 32.5 points and have given up 17 points per game. East Hardy finished the regular season 7-3 with its losses coming at the hands of two playoff teams and one Maryland team.
Kickoff is set for 7:30 at Yellow Jacket Stadium in Williamstown on Saturday. The game should be warmer than it has been with a high of 47.