JACKETS STING LIONS

The city of Williamsburg will celebrate “Old Fashion Trading Day” this week and Friday night the Yellow Jackets hope to put an old fashion beating on the Leslie County Eagles. It might be a tougher task than anyone would think if Leslie County senior Ethan Horton has his say. The Eagles senior has put his own whipping on Magoffin County and Allen Central in the last two weeks.

Horton threw for over 350 yards in a 38-22 win over Magoffin County then came back last week with a 300+ game in a victory over Allen Central, 37-8. “He is a pretty good quarterback,” Williamsburg Coach Jerry Herron said. “He can throw the ball and they are well coached.”

The Yellow Jackets had trouble putting away Horton and the Eagles last year when they escaped with a 36-34 win in Hyden. But, with this being the Alumni Bowl and everyone in town, Herron expects a big crowd at the game.

“They are very similar to us,” Herron said. “They like to pressure the football and they have a lot of speed.”

Horton has thrown touchdown passes to senior Eric Hubbard, junior Stefan Lewis, senior Chase Hoskins and junior Jared Feltner in the first three games of the season. The featured running back in the Leslie County offense is senior Blake Bray.

Williamsburg will counter with its passing game led by junior Dalton Sizemore, receivers Skylar Griffith, Corey Shelton, Logan Hamblin, Chase Lowrie and Jefferson Patrick. Patrick is also the leading rusher for the Yellow Jackets.

Williamsburg didn’t have any trouble scoring against the Pineville Mountain Lions last week in the City/County Bowl at Log Mountain. The Jackets put up 70 points in the lopsided win. It was the most points scored by a Williamsburg team since the Yellow Jackets beat Cumberland, 80-14 in 2000 under Bob Rose.

Shelton was named the offensive MVP after scoring on two touchdown passes from Sizemore. He had six catches for 126 yards while Skylar Griffith had five catches for 77 yards. Sizemore hit on 16-of-24 passes for 266 yards. Patrick won the Defensive game honors for the Jackets.

Williamsburg scored 28 points in the first seven minutes of the game to take a 28-0 lead.

The Jackets scored on their first possession when Sizemore hit Griffith on a 21-yard play with 9:26 in the opening period. The pass to Shelton on the conversion made it 8-0.

A minute later Griffith had his second touchdown when he tipped a Jamie Roan pass and hauled it in for a 23-yard return.

Pineville’s second attempt with the ball proved to be disastrous when Lowrie picked up a backward lateral and returned it 27 yards for another TD with 7:18 left in the quarter. The Jackets missed their second conversion attempt, but led 20-0.

It was three plays and out for the Lions on its third possession of the quarter. The Lions got off a good punt as Williamsburg had to begin its next drive at their own 39-yard line.

A pass to Griffith for 29 yards gave the Jackets a first-down inside the Pineville 32. After Sizemore missed on a passing attempt, he hit Shelton down the sideline for a 21-yard gain to the Lions’ 11-yard line. Sizemore hit Griffith on the ensuing play for the touchdown. Patrick added the two-point conversion to put the Jackets ahead, 28-0 with 4:49 left on the Bell County scoreboard.

There were 24 more points to be scored in the first quarter and all three scores came in the last 25.7 seconds. Roan scored on a seven-play, 72-yard drive from 10 yards out.

Conner Ford connected with Byron Asher on the conversion to cut the lead to 28-8.

The Lions went for the on-side kick and made the Jackets pay as Matt Hubbard came up with the ball and gave the ball back to Pineville. A 41-yard pass to Jared Philpot saw a quick score cut the lead to 12 points after Ford ran in the conversion with just 3.1 seconds left in the quarter.

The Yellow Jackets were prepared for the on-side kick and this time Griffith got the ball and went through the Pineville defense untouched for a 65-yard return. A pass to Griffith on the conversion gave the Yellow Jackets a 36-16 lead as the time had expired on the kickoff return.

Pineville took control of the second quarter and pushed the ball down to the six-yard line before a holding call pushed the ball back to the 16-yard marker. Lowrie intercepted the Pineville quarterback to end the drive.

Backed up, the Jackets had trouble moving the ball and Sizemore was intercepted by Tanner Mike at the Williamsburg 17-yard line. The Jackets held the Lions on the first three downs to a minus one-yard, but on fourth down, Roan hit Mike for the score with 3:44 left in the half. The conversion failed, but the Jackets led at the break, 36-22.

 “They got after us in the first half. We made some mistakes and they took advantage of them,” Herron said. “The flu hit us a little bit this week and we had some kids out and it showed. We got them regrouped at half time and got them cooled down. We played much better in the second half.”

The Yellow Jackets took over the game in the third quarter scoring 28 points and pulling out to a 64-22 lead. Sizemore scored on a two-yard run while Shelton scored on a 56-yard interception return. Shelton added two touchdowns late in the quarter when he scored on a 29-yard pass and 24-yard pass from Sizemore. When Chris Sawyers scored on the conversion with :14 left in the quarter.

Logan Hamblin scored early in the fourth quarter to make it 70-22.

Williamsburg 70, Pineville 22

Williamsburg   36   0   28   6- 70

Pineville            16   6     0   0- 22

First Quarter

W- Skylar Griffith  21 pass from Dalton Sizemore (Shelton from Sizemore)

W- Griffith 23 pass interception (run failed)

W- Chase Lowrie, 27 fumble recovery (run failed)

W- Griffith 11 pass from Sizemore (Jefferson Patrick run)

P- Jamie Roan 10 run (Asher from Ford)

P- Roan 41 run (Ford run)

W- Griffith 65 kickoff return (Griffith from Sizemore)

Second Quarter

P- Tanner Mike 18 pass from Roan (run failed)

Third Quarter

W- Sizemore 2 run (Griffith from Sizemore)

W- Corey Shelton 56 interception return (pass failed)

W- Shelton 29 pass from Sizemore (pass failed)

W- Shelton 24 pass from Sizemore (Sawyers run)

Fourth Quarter

W- Logan Hamblin 36 run (run failed)