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Yellowjackets Sting Tyler Consolidated

SISTERSVILLE — Tyler Consolidated needed a comeback on Friday night after falling behind early but every time the Silver Knights found the end zone, visiting Williamstown took the wind out of their sails with a scoring drive of its own.

All three of Tyler’s touchdowns were immediately followed by a Yellowjackets’ score as Williamstown emerged with a 42-22 triumph.

“We worked our butt off to score but then gave up a quick one and that just took the air out of our sail,” Tyler coach Ryan Walton said. “That’s a pretty good football team, though. We just couldn’t get stops on defense.

“I can’t say enough about their quarterback (Maxwell Molessa). He’s a good player. He has speed to hurt you outside and is tough enough to run inside, too. He can make plays.”

Williamstown running back Rickie Allen was strong with 109 yards but Molessa racked up 220 yards on 21 carries.

“He’s an excellent player but an even better kid,” Williamstown coach Chris Beck said. “He is a special kid and works hard. He has a Division I scholarship for baseball at West Virginia University and he’s only a sophomore.”

Tyler running back Sean Winfrey ran wild, as well. The sophomore standout raced for 178 yards on 31 carries.

“He runs hard and takes care of the football,” Walton said of Winfrey. “Our offensive line is doing a good job of giving him holes to run through, too.”

The Yellowjackets scored on all of their possessions in the first half and racked up 401 total yards to the Knights’ 315.

After Tyler was forced to punt on the game’s first drive, Williamstown marched 97 yards and Molessa dashed 16 yards in for the first score.

Another Knights’ punt led to an Allen 7-yard TD jaunt, a drive that was sparked by Molessa, who converted a fourth-and-3 with a 7-yard run.

That’s when Winfrey really started picking up momentum. He led the Silver Knights on a 65-yard drive and plunged in for six from a yard out to cut the deficit to 14-6 with 5:07 left in the first half.

However, the Jackets easily went 59 yards on their ensuing possession and Allen garnered a 2-yard TD.

Then, an interception by Tyler QB Trenton Huffman found the hands of Allen.

Thirty-six yards later, Molessa found paydirt to extend Williamstown’s lead to 28-6 at half.

In the third, sparked by two tip-toe receptions along the sideline by Jayden Helmick, Tyler scored on a 3-yard run by Winfrey but Williamstown needed just one play to answer as Allen raced 60 yards for a TD to create a 35-14 cushion heading to the fourth.

Another highlight reel catch by Helmick set up Winfrey’s third TD run of the night from 2 yards out to make it a 35-22 contest but the theme continued.

On Williamstown’s ensuing drive, an offside call on Tyler turned a fourth-and-2 into a first down and led to a 29-yard TD run by Allen to seal the victory.

“We have things to correct in order to get better,” Walton said. “We have to make sure we play four quarters. I don’t know what happened to us in the first half. They controlled the line of scrimmage and it showed on the scoreboard.

“In the second half, we held our own but we just have to put four quarters together and make plays.”

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