Back-to-back state champs: Williamstown routs Greenbrier West, 42-12, to defend Class A title
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WHEELING -- Greenbrier West's vaunted defense was no match for No. 3 Williamstown here Saturday night at Wheeling Island Stadium as the Yellowjackets capped a 14-0 campaign and back-to-back Class A state championships after securing a 42-12 victory against the fourth-seeded Cavaliers which featured a running clock the second half of the fourth quarter.
Williamstown, which had its first undefeated season and captured its fourth overall state title, led 28-6 at halftime. Head coach Chris Beck's program amassed more points in the first half than GWHS (13-1) had allowed in a game all season.
"We were playing football for over 100 years and these seniors have accomplished things that have never been accomplished before," admitted coach Beck, who watched signal-caller Maxwell Molessa collect his third consecutive championship game team Most Outstanding Player award.
"The first 14-0 season. The first back-to-back championships. The greatest football class to come through our school. What a story they wrote and I'm super proud of them."
Molessa, who hit 8 of 9 passes for 96 yards and carried 19 times for a game-high 160 yards, set an all-class Super Six record when he darted 98 yards to paydirt for Williamstown's second six-pointer of the opening stanza. He broke the 94-yard romp set by Independence's Judah Price in the 2022 Class AA title game.
"It's an honor to be in that talk," Molessa said of being considered one of the best gridiron players in the Mountain State. "I'm just truly blessed, really, to go back-to-back.
"Anything else that comes with it is a blessing, but this was the main goal. Whether I ran for a lot, whether I threw for a lot or neither, I just wanted to go back-to-back and that was the only goal I had in mind."
Greenbrier West won the toss and elected to receive. A 25-yard run by quarterback Cole Vandall, who completed just 1 of 11 passes for 10 yards, and a 27-yard burst by Moses Gray quickly got the Cavaliers into the red zone. However, the 'Jacket defense stood tall. Will Sites had a key tackle for loss on Vandall, which forced a third-and-long. A 28-yard field goal by Hayden Ridgeway was no good and it took just four plays for Williamstown to dent the scoreboard.
Facing a second-and-9 from their own 41, the 'Jackets sent wideout Louis Goodnow in motion and he took the handoff from Molessa. Goodnow was able to use a spin move at midfield to elude a defender and then turned on the jets before making a cutback at the 20 to house it for a 59-yard touchdown.
"Lynken (Joy) and a few other guys on the outside had some good blocks," admitted Goodnow, who had game-highs of four catches for 64 yards. "I just kept my feet moving and made a guy miss.
"It's awesome. It's awesome. That's all I got is just awesome. It's an awesome feeling to do something that's never been done."
Molessa shredded a pair of arm tackles on the conversion run to make it 8-0 at the 7:40 mark.
Following a 22-yard Wildcat run by GWHS MOP Ethan Holliday, who carried seven times for 79 stripes, it looked like the Cavaliers were in business with the ball at the WHS 36. However, cornerback Carson Haines made a fully-extended diving interception to give the defending state champs the ball at the 2.
A run for no gain by fullback Rex Anderson was followed by Molessa's longest play from scrimmage in Super Six history. Goodnow grabbed the two-point conversion pass and GWHS trailed 16-0 with 4:45 to go in the first.
Sites was the first player to get to Vandall, which forced a 3-yard loss. Two dropped passes later by the Cavaliers allowed the 'Jackets to take over at their own 36.
WHS marched down the field and scored on Molessa's 12-yard TD burst on a fourth-and-2 play, which made it 22-0 just 44 ticks into the second.
Aiden Corbett, who had a forced fumble in the second half, thwarted the next GWHS drive with a sack of Vandall on third down.
"I don't think there was any doubt," admitted Corbett. "We were confident coming in. We knew if we played our butts off and played as hard as we could and played 48 minutes of football we'd be alright.
"A lot of work. Four years just in high school. I mean you start when you are real little in Williamstown and you get so far into it. It's a great experience. I haven't put this into perspective yet, but it's definitely fun and cool."
Joy, who finished with 20 totes and 156 grounds yards, caught a 4-yard pass and then went 48 yards to paydirt where he used a cutback at the 25 before just getting into the end zone by diving. That gave the Yellowjackets a 28-0 cushion just 1:51 into the second quarter.
The Cavs tried to answer on their next drive, but Jensen Burge stuffed Holliday on a Wildcat run on a fourth-and-2 snap from the WHS 26.
Coach Beck was going to go for it on the ensuing series when it was fourth-and-1 at their own 35, but Burge jumped offside and Goodnow had to punt.
"I missed the first nine games of the season. I was out with injury so I was hyped up to get back," Burge said. "I got back, did my job, most of the time did my job.
"The other guys, when you don't do the job other guys really pick up for you because we are a big team, like a big family. Tonight we just did our jobs, executed and got the right outcome. Back-to-back feels great. First time in the history of the school."
Isaac Agee, who had seven carries for 60 yards, finally got GWHS on the board when he had a 25-yard TD run with 2:04 left in the half. However, Danner Hooper blocked the extra point to set the halftime score.
WHS opened the second half with a 14-play, 65-yard drive that consumed 7:29 off the clock. Molessa hooked up with Cooper Martin on an 8-yard slant pass and it was 35-6 at the 4:31 mark following Brylee Jones' extra point.
Joy added a 16-yard TD scamper at 7:19 of the fourth and Jones' PAT accounted for the final points of the WHS 2023 campaign.
Holliday had a 23-yard touchdown run at 3:39 of the fourth. Gray led GWHS with 92 ground yards on 11 rushes.
"I'm so happy for them," Beck added of his team. "They deserve it. The kids deserve all the credit."
With Williamstown possibly moving into Class AA next season, Beck wasn't ready to think about a third straight crown.
"We're going to enjoy tonight first," said the coach. "We lose so many key cogs, six or seven guys who are three-year starters so we're just going to enjoy tonight.
"Hopefully the juniors, sophomores and freshmen learn from these seniors. Being good doesn't happen by accident. They are the hardest workers and if they want to fill those shoes they are going to have to work their butts off."
Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com