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Braxton girls top ‘Jackets for LKC three-peat

By Jordan Holland 3 min read

WILLIAMSTOWN -- Kaylee Heater's golden goal with 3:17 left in overtime gave Braxton County a 3-2 victory over Williamstown on Saturday as the Eagles won their third straight Little Kanawha Conference championship.

The match was scoreless at halftime, but both teams found the back of the net twice in the second half to force a 10-minute, sudden-death OT session.

In the 87th minute, Zoey McQuain possessed the ball and fed it to Bella Rollyson in the left corner. Rollyson sent a strong cross, and Heater was there to strike it past a diving Madelyn Jones in goal to secure a three-peat for Braxton County

"It’s huge," said Braxton head coach Nathan Smarr. "This is one of our goals at the beginning of the year. We went from down to up to down to tied -- that’s why you just keep fighting. Six seniors, so it’s big for them."

Williamstown (5-9-1) led twice in the match. Four minutes into the second half, Williamstown worked the ball within a few feet of the goal. After bouncing around and deflecting off players from both teams, Kenzy Biddle finally buried it for the first goal of the match.

The Eagles (14-2-1) answered just two minutes later when Rollyson scored off an assist from goalie Cassidy Coyer, who punted the ball up the field before Rollyson gathered it.

Then, at the 31:50 mark, Braxton earned a penalty kick opportunity, but Jones was there to save McQuain's attempt to keep the score tied.

"Zoey, she missed that PK and I know she was in her head about it, but she won so many balls for us at that holding-mid spot," Smarr said. "If she doesn't win those balls, who knows how many goals Williamstown gets."

With eight minutes left in the match, Addi Richardson crossed the ball to Quinn Bunch, whose shot found the back of the net to once again give Williamstown the advantage.

The 'Jackets were five minutes away from being champions, but a strike by Heater deflected off Jones and into the goal to tie the score at 2-all.

Jones finished with five saves while Coyer tallied 12 for Braxton.

"I'm beyond proud of the way the girls played today," said Williamstown head coach Maddi Leggett. "They fought for every last minute of it -- ninety minutes, and they fought for it the whole time."

Williamstown revived its girls soccer program last season and came a long way in year two. The Yellowjackets wrap up the regular season next week and then will turn their attention to regionals.

"This is probably the first time that our girls have played in a match this rowdy, this exciting," Leggett said. "When you have the entire crowd screaming at you and everything else, and you’re playing a team that has not only won this for multiple years, but has had a girls program for also multiple years -- that is just something that (Braxton's) kind of used to, and we’re just starting to see."

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