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WILLIAMSTOWN – Wyatt Stephens had a pair of 43-yard touchdown runs and broke up a potential game-tying two-point conversion pass with 1:01 remaining here Friday night as defending Class A state champion Wheeling Central denied Williamstown's bid for a perfect regular season after escaping with a 35-33 victory.
Williamstown, which entered the fray rated No. 2 in double-A, trailed 14-13 at halftime and found itself behind 21-13 early in the third following a 29-yard touchdown burst by Dustin Sanner.
However, Breck Allen answered with a 2-yard TD run and it was 27-21 'Jackets with 40.4 left in the third after Allen hit Trenton Hall on a 16-yard fade and then ran in the two-point conversion.
No. 6 Wheeling Central, which finished 6-4 for head man Mike Young, then got a huge momentum boost when the hosts tried a fake punt deep in their own end and Brady Ernest picked it off and housed it from 18 yards away.
Leading 28-27 with 8:02 remaining, Stephens added his second 43-yard touchdown run to stretch the advantage to eight after Clay Petry's extra point with 5:05 to go.
The Yellowjackets (9-1) of head man Chris Beck responded with a scoring drive that was capped by Jack Moore's 1-yard plunge, but Stephens managed to tip away Allen's two-point pass intended for Mason Kern in the back of the end zone.
"Honestly, I had an idea it was going to be a fake," admitted Ernest. "Earlier in the year we kind of gave up a fake on a field goal, so they were yelling fake on the sideline. I see the ball get snapped to their upback and then I see the kid roll out and I was like 'oh, he's coming toward me.'
"I saw the ball go up, went and took it and took it to the house. It's no better feeling than coming down here winning. We know they are a great team. They are 9-0 and they play good competition. We play good competition. Losing (QB) Nico (Kusic) hurts a lot. No one wanted to win more than Nico. He's a winner and he's a big part of our team. Losing him hurts."
Although the Yellowjackets got a first down via an Allen to Lincoln Knapp 15-yard completion on the game's first series, the hosts were forced to punt.
Wheeling Central needed just three plays to dent the scoreboard as Stephens had his first 43-yard score at the 8:17 mark.
WHS then went on a methodical 15-play, 82-yard scoring march which took 6:11 off the clock as Daniel Cunningham punched it in from the 4 and the game was even following JT Amrine's PAT.
Kusic, who had a 14-yard completion to Levi Rine that proved to be the only pass of the affair for the visitors, made it 14-7 at 10:42 of the second when he had a 22-yard touchdown run.
The 'Jackets immediately responded as Cunningham, who had game-highs of 26 totes for 186 stripes, had runs of 27 and 20 yards, respectively, to get the ball to the Central 25. Despite a bad snap that resulted in a loss of 18, Allen hit Cunningham for a 13-yard gain before hooking up on a 30-yard screen pass that went for six as Christian Hoosier had a key block at the 15. However, WHS tried to go for two, but the run failed as Central led 14-13 with 8:24 left in the half.
Kusic, who rushed five times for 41 yards, left the game on the second play of Wheeling Central's ensuing drive due to a shoulder injury.
Coach Young's squad was forced to punt, but they got the ball back after Stephens intercepted Allen on a pass that was intended for Tyrell Miller.
The visitors tried to add to their halftime lead, but Petry's 54-yard field goal was no good.
Sanner, who was limited to 66 yards on 16 attempts, extended the lead to eight with his score early in the third.
Wheeling Central, which used both Stephens and Luke Bordas at quarterback following the injury to Kusic, joined the 'Jackets with 255 yards rushing, but did it on 14 less attempts as the hosts ran the ball 52 times.
Hall's fade route in the end zone was set up by a Wheeling Central bad snap that Kern recovered.
It looked like the Maroon Knights would cut the deficit to 27-24 early in the fourth, but Petry's 28-yard field goal attempt was blocked by Hoosier.
Three straight run plays resulted in 2 yards as Kern went back to punt facing a fourth-and-8 at their own 22. However, the fake punt pass from Colin Jones ended up in the hands of Ernest as the visitors never trailed again.
Williamstown's next to last drive of the contest resulted in a punt after Allen was sacked on third down by Andrew Jones and Dominic Paesani.
"Hats off to them. They made plays when they needed to, but definitely one of those games we felt like we beat ourselves," admitted Beck, whose team held a 24-13 edge on first downs and a 431-269 advantage in total yards, but got flagged 11 times for 87 yards. "Great game. We'll watch film, learn a lot about ourselves, get better and then the real season starts next week.
"I called it (fake punt). I thought it was there all week. I rolled the dice there and we came up short. That one is on coach for doing that one. Proud of the effort. I thought we got off the mat well. I thought we competed hard. You get in a game like that, just a few plays like that and they didn't go our way tonight. Hopefully, we learn from it and get better this week and next week go do what we need to do."
Allen completed 12 of 19 attempts for 176 yards and added 69 ground yards on 18 attempts. Cunningham had four receptions for 74 yards.
Stephens carried 15 times and finished with 167 yards rushing on a night when Wheeling Central had just three penalties for 25 yards.
"It's always a great game between these two schools," said Young. "They both got a lot of pride and a lot of tradition. We were fortunate to come out. It could've gone either way. If we'd gone overtime, I don't know if I would've made it through that. Credit to my coaches. Credit to the kids. Both teams battled like crazy.
"We lost our quarterback there in the first half with a broken collarbone, which is tough to take, but our two freshmen quarterbacks stepped in there and did a he- of a job, and I'm awfully proud of Luke Bordas and Wyatt Stephens. Quality kids. The other kids rallied around them, made it happen and made big plays. Credit to my kids and the coaches."