WEST UNION – Doddridge County is heading back to the state basketball tournament for a third straight season.

Head coach Paul Burnside’s Bulldogs used a dominating 24-10 effort in the third quarter here Thursday night as the hosts rolled past Williamstown, 64-34, in a double-A, Region I, co-final.

The 19-4 Bulldogs, who led 14-7 after one and 26-18 at halftime, earned the No. 4 seed and now will take on fifth-seeded Wayne at 11:15 a.m. Tuesday in the quarterfinals at the Charleston Coliseum.

Williamstown, which finished 11-13 and were led in scoring by Wyatt Powell with nine and Caleb Atkinson with seven, had previously lost to Doddridge County by scores of 67-45 and 64-55.

“Praise be to God. My goodness, I’ve been nervous all day,” admitted Burnside, who watched Jerod Trent lead all scorers with 18. “Williamstown is a great ball club. They are very young, but they still got a lot of firepower and they are very well coached.

“We needed to come in and play our ‘A’ game. Praise be to God we got the job done. I’m proud of my guys. Playing a team for the third time is very tough. I’m proud of my guys for coming in and making adjustments. I’m proud of my coaching staff.”

The Yellowjackets opted early on for a deliberate offense as the first basket of the affair came via a Trent trifecta 3 minutes in.

When the ‘Jackets finally dented the scoreboard via a Cedric Davis 8-foot floater to make it 3-2 at the 2:42 mark, it was just the third WHS possession.

However, the Bulldogs would lead from start to finish. Jaden Solomon responded with an inside bucket as the hosts moved ahead 11-4 after Trent’s third triple.

Brysen Dixon had back-to-back steals that set up Trent’s final 3 as well as a three-point play by Josh DeHaven to give DCHS its first double figure advantage.

Powell, though, took a handoff from Caleb Atkinson and made it 14-7 after one when he connected from beyond the arc a second before the buzzer.

A Malakai Kelley offensive rebound led to a Blake Mitchell score and it was 18-7 DCHS with 6:20 left in the half when Kelley had a putback.

Maddox Jones’ trifecta increased the lead to 21-7 at the 4:41 mark as the ‘Jackets finally got their first basket of the quarter 24 seconds later thanks to Eli Houser.

Williamstown was able to keep it close by using their trap. Head coach Scott Sauro’s club cut it back to 10 at 21-11 after a steal and lay-in by Colt Rinard. The lead was soon sliced to six, 22-16, after two foul shots and a 3 by Atkinson following a Powell steal with 1:54 to go, but Landon Thomas responded with a trey of his own to push the lead back to nine.

DCHS led 26-18 at halftime as Solomon’s foul shot was followed by a deep two from Powell.

Things appeared like they would stay close early in the third. Solomon’s blocked shot on an Atkinson drive led to a Heston Hayes deuce via a Trent dime, but Powell responded

with an 18-foot jumper to keep the deficit at eight, 28-20.

Doddridge County, which held a 24-10 advantage in the third to take a 50-28 cushion into the final eight minutes, owned the rest of the quarter.

DeHaven made it 31-20 when he converted a three-point play. Solomon then had a steal and assisted on Trent’s layup. Another 3 from Trent, a Solomon putback and then a 13-foot, pull-up jumper by Trent gave the Bulldogs a commanding 40-20 edge with 4:37 remaining in the quarter.

The ‘Jackets finally stopped the run on a Dom Strcula 3.

Heston Hayes and Maddox Jones finished with eight points for the ‘Dogs, who also got six counters from Thomas and five by Solomon.