Williamstown’s JT Amrine (10) delivers a hit to a Chapmanville ball-carrier during Friday’s game. (Photo by Nikki Allen)

WILLIAMSTOWN — The Williamstown Yellowjackets (1-3) fell to the Chapmanville Tigers (4-0) Friday night 50-13.

“I was really proud of these guys, for three quarters I thought we competed our butts off,” Yellowjacket head coach Chris Beck said.

The Tigers jumped out to an early lead in the first with quarterback Dakota Dalton running in a 10-yard touchdown with 3:33 left in the quarter and then finding Easton Bender on a 35-yard touchdown pass immediately after the Yellowjackets turned the ball over on downs with 1:30 left to play in the first.

Yellowjacket defensive lineman Christian Hoosier blocked the extra point keeping the score 13-0.

Dalton then connected with senior wide receiver Trey Ward for a 13-yard touchdown pass with 5:04 left in the second to go up 19-0.

Williamstown quarterback Breck Allen (7) throws a pass during Friday’s game against Chapmanville. (Photo by Nikki Allen)

Williamstown responded by driving down the field and scoring on a 12-yard pass from sophomore quarterback Breck Allen to fellow senior wide receiver Carson Haines closing the gap to 19-7.

“Breck (Allen) and the receiver made some plays. We got some good skill guys, and we’re not afraid to air it out with this group. And against the team we were playing, we kind of had to,” Beck said.

The Yellowjackets came out of the locker room in the second half and marched down the field where Tyrell Miller went above a defender to bring in a 21-yard pass from Allen with 6:39 left in the third quarter. A bad snap forced the Yellowjackets to miss the extra point but it brought the team to within one score at 19-13.

The defense also made some big plays in the third quarter with Allen snagging an interception on the first play of the Tiger’s next drive and Hoosier recording a fumble recovery on the following drive.

The Yellowjacket offense couldn’t get much going after that as they punted after a three-and-out and then turned the ball over after a fake punt to end the third quarter.

The Tigers opened the fourth quarter with a 47-yard touchdown run from Ward who then picked up a punt around the 50-yard line taking it into the end zone to put the Tigers up 33-13.

The Tiger’s Cooper Perry then intercepted a Dalton pass at the thirty-yard line the first play of the Yellowjackets next drive and gave up a quick thirty-yard run to the Tiger’s senior running back Preston Kovach to go down 40-13.

The Yellowjacket offense struggled in the fourth quarter turning the ball over on two missed hand-offs that led to Chapmanville scores. A 7-yard touchdown run from Kovach and a 43-yard field goal from Jonathan Ferrell to end the game 50-13.

“That’s kind of been the story for us this year is, once things go down, we start turning it over,” Beck said. “(Chapmanville) is a team that started, I think, nine seniors on defense. We were playing five sophomores and one freshman. … It’s a big team, senior heavy, tough for us to get going on offense a little bit and slow them down on defense, but all we can do is get better. Get ready for next week. Next week we got a big one. It doesn’t get any easier for us. So we gotta get better starting Monday.”

The Yellowjackets will face the Marietta Tigers (0-6) next Friday at home and Chapmanville will head to Tosia to take on the 2-3 Rebels.

Douglass Huxley can be reached at dhuxley@newsandsentinel.com