By Dave Helmick
TuckerCountySports.Com
PARSONS – The #2 Tucker County Football team hosted #3 Williamstown in the Semi-Finals of the West Virginia Football Playoffs on Friday November 24th. The Mt. Lions got down early and were unable to mount a comeback as defending State Champion, Williamstown picked up the road playoff win by the final score of 45-8.
The Mt. Lions won the coin toss and deferred their option to the second half. The visiting Yellowjackets got the ball to start the game and drove the ball down to the Tucker County 30, but they failed to convert on fourth down to give the Mt. Lions the ball. Tucker County was forced to punt on their first possession. Williamstown then put together a scoring drive on their second possession on a 5 yard touchdown run by Maxwell Molessa. The 2 point conversion was good on a run play to make the score 8-0 Yellowjackets with 1:41 left in the first quarter. Tucker County then put together a drive that put the ball down to the Williamstown 30 as the first quarter ended with the score 8-0 Williamstown. However, the Tucker County drive would end on an interception by the visiting Yellowjackets. The defending State Champs then marched the ball down the field on a 60 yard drive that was capped off on a 2 yard touchdown run by Carson Haines with 5:56 left in the second quarter. The PAT was good on a run play to put the score to 16-0 Williamstown. The Mt. Lions were forced to punt the ball back to the Yellowjackets and the visitor offense went to work again. Williamstown then scored on a 29 yard touchdown run by Molessa. The PAT was good on a run play to up the lead for the Yellowjackets to 24-0 with 2:40 left in the second. Tucker County then put together a drive that took the ball into Williamstown territory, but the drive stalled. The Yellowjackets then got the ball back late in the first half, but the Mt. Lions defense held Williamstown on a pass play at the end of the second quarter to keep the score at 24-0 Williamstown at the halftime break.
Tucker County received the kick to start the third and the offense would go to work. The Mt. Lions drove the ball down inside the Williamstown 25 yard line, but Tucker County failed to convert on a fourth down to give the Yellowjackets the ball back. The visitors then got their offense rolling again as they marched down the field and scored on a 16 yard touchdown run by Molessa. The 2 point conversion was good on a run to make the score 32-0 Williamstown with 5:29 left in the third. The Mt. Lions offense would get on the scoreboard on their next drive as Ethan Rosenau connected with Jared Reall on a screen pass and Reall raced 65 yards for the touchdown. The PAT was good on a pass play from Rosenau to Garrett Wilfong to make the score 32-8 Yellowjackets with 5:00 left in the third. The Tucker County defense continued to struggle to slow down Williamstown as the visiting Yellowjackets scored again on a 4 yard touchdown run by Louis Goodnow with 2:01 left in the third quarter. The 2 point conversion was no good to put the score to 38-8 Williamstown. The Yellowjackets would add one final score in the game on a 27 yard touchdown run by Molessa with 55 seconds left in the third. The PAT kick was good off the leg of the Brylee Jones of Williamstown to make the score 45-8. The reserve players finished the game for both teams in the fourth quarter as the game ended with the final score of 45-8 Williamstown. The Yellowjackets with the win advanced to the State Championship game on December 2nd in Wheeling against Greenbrier West.
Ethan Rosenau ended the game for Tucker County with 16 of 29 passing for 173 yards, 1 TD, 2 Int. Jared Reall led the Mt. Lions in receiving with 4 receptions for 94 yards. Maddox Anderson had 35 yards receiving and Garrett Wilfong added 32 yards receiving in the loss for Tucker County. Williamstown outgained the Mt. Lions in total offense 442 to 189.
Tucker County ended their season with a 12-1 record. Special thanks to the following seniors for their great career’s at TCHS: Ethan Rosenau, Maddox Anderson, Blaike Adams, Gavin Mullenax, Owen Knotts, Racer Channell, Hunter Ware and Aedan Kirk. For more information go to TuckerCountySports.Com.
