Williamstown’s Breck Allen (7) carries the ball during a game against Poca Friday. (Photo by Nikki Allen)

POCA, W.Va. – Williamstown coach Chris Beck noted that his team didn’t have a lot of “home run plays” Friday night, but the Yellowjackets did just fine moving the runners along.

Jackson Kerr rushed for 136 yards and two touchdowns and sophomore quarterback Breck Allen added 71 yards and three scores as Williamstown’s relentless ground game piled up a 39-19 victory against Poca at O.O. White Stadium.

The Jackets (2-4) ran a substantial amount of offensive plays – 72 in all – and racked up 22 first downs to keep the chains moving and keep the big-play Dots at bay.

“Offensively, I thought we did OK,” Beck said. “I thought we did a pretty good job of getting movement up front and moving the ball. We didn’t have a lot of home run plays, and if you’re running 72 plays, that tells you we didn’t have a lot of big ones, but we were pretty consistent.

“I thought Jackson [Kerr] and Jackson [Fulton] ran hard and I thought Breck did a good job and it’s a good win. It’s always good to go on the road and get a win.”

Poca certainly had some highlight-reel plays, just not enough to offset an ineffective rushing attack (37 yards on 27 carries) and four turnovers.

Dots quarterback Kam McBride hit on 10 of 17 passes for 193 yards, including touchdown bombs of 46 and 60 yards to Jack McClanahan. Poca had five pass plays in all of 20 or more yards and McClanahan nearly took a kickoff return 80 yards for a score but fumbled the ball away at the goal line.

“I’ve told the guys all year that the things that are deciding factors in winning and losing is the big-play ratio, the diverse-play ratio and the takeaway ratio,” said Poca coach Seth Ramsey. “And we were probably on the minus side of both of those [diverse plays and turnovers] tonight.

“I’m proud of our effort. Williamstown up to now is the best team we’ve played and our guys were right there – a play or two here or there. It’s something we’ve got to fix in practice because we’ve got a big conference game with Clay next week.”

The Dots entered the game 20th in the WVSSAC Class AA playoff ratings, four spots out of the final available berth.

The Yellowjackets (2-4), longtime playoff contenders, were 26th in AA, but faced a brutal start to the schedule – their first four opponents were a combined 17-4 coming into this weekend.

Beck realizes that his Wood County community isn’t used to its team being 2-4 at this stage of the season, but understands their concerns.

“They’re anxious,” Beck said. “I get a lot of calls and texts from concerned folks, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. If you’re in a community where you’re not having the greatest year and people aren’t concerned and they don’t care, that’s not an environment I want to be in.

“I want to be in an environment where the community expects us to win and supports us to win, and ours is just like that. They call and it comes from a good place. They want to see us do well and they reach out. It’s not getting on the coach, it’s ‘Hey, what can we do to help out type deal, so we can get this turned around,’ and I’m all ears.”

The Jackets took a 25-7 lead at halftime after it looked like the two sides might trade punches for a while.

Following a 1-yard Allen run for a touchdown and an early Williamstown lead, Poca came right back and marched 61 yards for a score on a 1-yard Spencer Jones burst to make it 7-7.

But then misfortune dogged the Dots on their next few possessions.

After the Yellowjackets took a 13-7 lead, Poca went for a first down and fourth and 1 at the Williamstown 40, but was thrown for a 2-yard loss and the Jackets drove for a 19-7 lead.

Poca’s final two possessions of the first half were each one play that resulted in an interception. Piling on the bad luck, McClanahan looked to return a Williamstown kickoff 80 yards for a touchdown, but in lunging for the goal line, saw the ball squirt out of his grasp and roll through the end zone for a touchback, giving the ball to the Jackets at their own 20.

“Our guys play so hard,” Ramsey said. “If we do a little something different here or a little something different there, it’s a ballgame in the fourth quarter. I think last year when we played them, at halftime it was something like 35 or 42 to nothing.

“We’re taking steps in the right direction, but we’ve got to get over the hump and win some games. We’re running out of time here late in the year. We’ve done some things right, but we’re still doing some things wrong.”

Jones led Poca’s rushing attack with 54 yards on 21 carries and returned three kickoffs for 58 yards. McClanahan caught five passes for 137 yards and tight end Colton Petry had three receptions for 61 yards.

Williamstown’s Allen completed 10 of 20 passes for 159 yards, with Carson Haines landing four of those connections for 77 yards. Fulton added 47 yards to the ground total on seven totes. The Jackets ran it 52 times in all for 267 yards.