A pass intended for Williamstown’s Carson Haynes, 21, fell incomplete during Saturday’s game against Frankfort. (Photo courtesy of Jordan Holland)
During Saturday’s game, Williamstown quarterback Linken Joy (2) was attempting to pass as teammate Ty Ott (63) blocked Frankfort’s Lane Reese (64). (Photo courtesy of Jordan Holland)
During Saturday’s game, Williamstown quarterback Linken Joy (2) was attempting to pass as teammate Ty Ott (63) blocked Frankfort’s Lane Reese (64). (Photo courtesy of Jordan Holland)
WILLIAMSTOWN — Williamstown is back to square one.
The Yellow Jackets lost to Frankfort 27-7 on Saturday afternoon in a game between two of the top three teams in Class AA. The loss ended Williamstown’s 26-game winning streak dating back to 2022, and the seven points were the program’s lowest points in a game since September 2020.
But all is not lost for head coach Chris Beck’s team.
“After games like this it’s always easy to point fingers and point out the problems, but we’re not going to do that.” Beck said: The team currently has 7 wins and 1 loss. “We identify problems and we find solutions. Together, we must find ways to be better.”
Frankfort running back Julian Pattison had 18 carries for 156 yards and two touchdowns. His 74-yard scoring run in the fourth quarter gave the Falcons a 20-point lead with 7:17 left.
A pass intended for Williamstown’s Carson Haynes, 21, fell incomplete during Saturday’s game against Frankfort. (Photo courtesy of Jordan Holland)
“We knew all week that they were going to come at us hard at times, and we knew if we got through the line we would be gone.” said FHS head coach Kevin Whiteman. “Everyone was there on that play. That was a big play. Three yards through the line and he was gone.”
Frankfort improved to 7-0 on the year in its next game against Berkeley Springs.
“It’s a big win for us.” Whiteman said. “Coming here, we have two undefeated teams. They have a great history. They’ve won the last two state championships. They’ve won all of these games in a row. We wanted to come and cut them off. It’s a big win for us. The atmosphere, you can’t ask for anything better.”
Williamstown quarterback Linken Joy rushed 23 times for 114 yards and scored the Yellow Jackets’ only 2-yard touchdown, tying the score at 7-all in the second period. Otherwise, Williamstown struggled to produce any other offense.
Joy completed 6 of 17 passes for 112 yards. He was picked off once by Braydon Tyler. Ball carriers other than Joy had 17 attempts for just 36 yards.
“I thought they were physically better than us.” Beck said. “They did a great job at the point of attack on both sides of the ball. I thought they were the best team in Double-A when they came in, and I still think so. In a game like this, all the little It’s important that when a play is presented to us, we have to make it. We have to take those chances and run with them, and they were able to do it more consistently than we did. ”
Both teams punted the ball on their first possession. In the end, there were only two punts in the game.
On Frankfort’s second possession, quarterback Uriah Cutter completed a 14-yard pass to Blake Jacobs in a third-and-nine situation. Four plays later, Karder Shanholz ran for a 37-yard touchdown with 3:08 left in the first inning to open the scoring.
The Falcons forced and recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff and got the ball at the Williamstown 21-yard line. On a third-and-three, Danner Hooper made a clutch sack on fourth-and-12, and Rex Anderson made a big hit on a fourth-down play, forcing a turnover on downs.
Joy had two big successes, a 25-yarder to Jackson Fulton and a 40-yarder to Carson Haynes, and set up his own 2-yard TD plan with 10:12 left in the second.
Frankfort regained the ball with their own 36 points and began to show their determination. The result was a 13-play, 64-yard drive that culminated with Cutter’s 1-yard touchdown run. The Falcons only had two plays netting more than 10 yards on the drive, but they slowly worked their way down the field three and four yards at a time. This gave FHS a 14-7 lead with 4:33 left before halftime.
“It was a classic battle between two physical teams.” Whiteman said. “I’m just proud of the kids. They came out and played hard. I give (Williamstown) credit. They did a lot of good things with their plans against us. Ta.”
Williamstown had an opportunity to fight back late in the first half as Joy’s 32-yard pass to Cooper Martin brought the Yellow Jackets closer to the red zone. However, Frankfort forced Williamstown into a 4-3 scenario and Joy’s pass attempt fell incomplete, giving the Falcons a seven-point advantage at halftime.
“We had a chance to make some big plays in the passing game in the first half, but we just couldn’t make them.” Beck said. “I felt like we should have made it 14-14 in the first half, but we didn’t do that.”
When the Yellow Jackets got the ball to start the second half, they showed a sense of urgency, going for the ball on a fourth-and-three from their own 41 yards and picking it up on Joy’s 3-yard run. But then they faced a 4-6 from up the middle and were denied a first down. The Falcons took advantage of a short field, and a 15-yard pass from Cutter to Jacob Nessing set up Pattison’s 4-yard touchdown run. Williamstown blocked the extra point, making it 20-7 at the 3:43 mark of the third.
The Yellow Jackets continued a great drive to Frankfort’s 30, but on 4th-and-8, Joy’s deep ball was intercepted by Tyler.
Frankfort set up their own No. 5. After a breather until the 26th, Williamstown’s defense piled on a third-and-one. Cutter passed to Pattison at midfield, and when Pattison broke through the line of scrimmage, he was off to the races.
“I think it helped that we made some adjustments on offense and defense at halftime.” Whiteman said. “We did a lot of things that we didn’t do in the first half when we came back. We made some adjustments and it worked out.”
The Yellow Jackets will have a bye week next week, resting up before playing Doddridge County on Nov. 1. Beck hopes the team can fix some issues and bounce back.
“When something like this happens and you’re not used to it, you hear a lot of noise in your house asking who’s at fault, who’s the problem, but they can’t tell you the solution. .” Beck said. “It’s very important that 40 players and eight coaches come together and identify where we can improve and just improve.”
Whiteman has expressed a high level of respect for Williamstown and is keeping in mind the possibility of facing the Yellow Jackets again in the postseason.
“They’re a very good soccer team.” he said. “I love quarterbacks. They play very physical, so I love teams like that.”
Contact Jordan Holland at jholland@mariettatimes.com.
