Local Sports

‘Jackets take care of Wayne, 46-6

WILLIAMSTOWN -- Breck Allen tossed three first-half touchdowns and Daniel Cunningham found the end zone thrice as No. 2 Class AA Williamstown rolled to a 46-6 victory versus Wayne here Friday night at Yellowjacket Field.

The 'Jackets of head coach Chris Beck, who held a 46-0 halftime advantage along with a 260-10 edge in total yards at the break, improved to 9-0 and welcomes in defending Class A state champion Wheeling Central next Friday.

Wayne, which dropped to 0-9 for first-year head coach David Adkins and finishes its season at home next Friday versus Sissonville, avoided the shutout with a 42-yard Eli Haffer touchdown run with six minutes left in the affair.

Williamstown, which was without the services of JP Strobl and Christian Hoosier, lost two-way lineman Colin Jones in the first half to injury.

"More precaution," Beck said of Jones not returning to the game. "We had some guys nursing some injuries. Got them through and hopefully we're healthy for next week. We sat some guys just to be on the safe side tonight. I thought the first half was pretty good execution-wise. Five missed extra points and a fumble in the end zone. I thought the first team guys did what they were supposed to do and executed.

"Now we got to get ready for a big one. They (Central) are very, very good. (Nico) Kusic is really good, the tailback is really good. You can look at the scores, Barnesville is really good, 27-21, game and they beat Cincinnati Prep and have had two weeks to get ready for us. It's going to be a great game hopefully. We got to show up and play. We'll have to play really well to have a chance."

After the Pioneers were forced to punt, Cunningham returned it 24 yards and after a 3-yard tote by Jack Moore, Cunningham ripped off a 25-yard scoring scamper. Allen's two-point conversion run at 9:39 of the first proved to be all the points the hosts needed.

Williamstown's second drive resulted in an Allen flip pass to Trenton Hall, who turned it up and scored from 13 yards out. Carter Hoops' extra point was true as Wayne trailed 15-0 at the 5:28 mark.

A bad snap on the Pioneers' next punt attempt allowed the hosts to set up shop at the Wayne 16. On third-and-10, Allen hit Mason Kern on a slant for a touchdown as the two-point conversion pass failed.

Wayne opted to go for it at its own 33 facing a fourth-and-6, but lost 3 yards on the play. Hoops then made it 27-0 via a 5-yard touchdown run at 10:37 of the second.

After turning the ball over on downs at their own 41, the Pioneers watched Cunnigham, who had six carries for a game-high 79 yards all coming in the first half, race 41 stripes untouched to paydirt.

Just 13 seconds of clock expired before Cunningham picked off Wayne signal-caller Case Gilkerson and housed it from midfield, which led to a 39-0 cushion with 8:12 to go in the half.

Williamstown appeared as though it was going to score on its ensuing drive. Moore ripped off a 31-yard gain on first down after Kerns had a 9-yard grab and Tyrell Miller hauled in a 14-yard completion. Hoops then got the call out of the backfield. However, after running 20 yards, he was stripped at the 1 and Brady Collins recovered in the end zone for a touchback.

Wayne managed to collect its initial first down of the game with 3:02 to go in the half via a 9-yard tote by Kolter Michels, but the drive stalled. Coach Adkins tried a fake punt on fourth-and-13 from their own 35, but Trai Hayton and Haffer couldn't quite connect on a slant pass.

Allen, who turned things over to Owen Lefebure and the second unit after intermission, connected with JT Amrine for a 29-yard gain and as the clock hit all zeros he found Kern open in the end zone for a 6-yard scoring strike as Amrine's PAT made it 46-0.

Allen, who carried just once for 11 yards, finished 9 of 11 through the air for 107 yards with Kern (5-66) being his top target.

Haffer (10-63) led the Pioneers, who also got a fumble recovery from Bentley Napier and a Skyler Meddings interception of Lefebure, in rushing while Gilkerson chipped in 33 yards on five carries.

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com

Williamstown 46, Wayne 6

Wayne (0-9) 0 0 0 6 – 6

#2 Williamstown 21 25 0 0 – 46

WT: Daniel Cunningham 25 run (Breck Allen run) 9:39, 1st

WT: Trenton Hall 13 pass from Allen (Carter Hoops kick) 5:28, 1st

WT: Mason Kern 15 pass from Allen (pass failed) 2:23, 1st

WT: Hoops 5 run (kick failed) 10:37, 2nd

WT: Cunningham 41 run (kick failed) 8:25, 2nd

WT: Cunningham 50 interception return (kick failed) 8:12, 2nd

WT: Kern 6 pass from Allen (JT Amrine kick) 0:00, 2nd

WY: Eli Haffer 42 run (run failed) 6:00, 4th

Team stats

Wayne: First downs: 6; Rushes-yards: 46-125; Passing yards: 0; Total yards: 125; Passing: 0-5-1; Punts-average: 2-36; Fumbles-lost: 1-0; Penalties-yards: 7-32

Williamstown: First downs: 10; Rushes-yards: 19-151; Passing yards: 107; Total yards: 258; Passing: 9-14-1; Punts-average: 2-36; Fumbles-lost: 2-2; Penalties-yards: 4-30

Individual stats

Wayne: Rushing: Team 1-(-19), Case Gilkerson 5-33, Skyler Meddings 8-(-2), Eli Haffer 10-63, Case Hammock 5-5, Jaxon Mills 5-13, Kolter Michels 9-30, John Justice 1-(-1), Bentley Napier 2-3; Passing: Trai Hayton 0-1-0, 0 yards; Gilkerson 0-4-1, 0 yards

Williamstown: Rushing: Breck Allen 1-11, Daniel Cunningham 6-79, Carter Hoops 2-25, Jack Moore 3-38, Dom Thomas 4-2, Owen Lefebure 2-(-1), Connor Bailey 1-(-3); Passing: Lefebure 0-3-1, 0 yards; Allen 9-11-0, 107 yards; Receiving: Tyrell Miller 2-21, Mason Kern 5-66, Trenton Hall 2-20

Next games: Wheeling Central at Williamstown on Friday; Sissonville at Wayne on Friday.