James Monroe head football coach John Mustain has been around a lot of players over his years of coaching.
Still, the veteran coach is not quite sure how to take this current edition of the Plowboys.
“They are a bunch of goofballs and you can’t ever get a read on them,” Mustain said, laughing. “They are a lot of fun and I enjoy being with them. This is the kind of season that you want, but it has been a long season. You have to let them have a little bit of comic relief. They are pretty good at that for sure.”
Times are good right now in Monroe County when it comes to high school sports.
The boys basketball team won the Class A state championship back in March. Haiden Huffman won the boys high jump at the state track meet and finished second in the long jump.
This year so far, the Mavs have had standout performances in golf, cross country and volleyball.
Now there is the matter of a certain football game that has not only Monroe County excited, but basically has all of southern West Virginia buzzing.
Saturday night, No. 1 James Monroe will square off with No. 2 Williamstown in the 2022 Class A state championship game at Wheeling Island Stadium.
“Williamstown is just a solid, solid team. They were there last year and they have been there several times over the years,” Mustain said. “They have one of those programs where you know every year there is a really good chance they will be back up at the top.”
The Yellowjackets are used to being at the top of the heap. Last year Williamstown was the Class A runner-up to Ritchie County and last won the small school’s championship back in 2014.
Although the two teams have never met on the gridiron, both teams were in Wheeling back in 2007 when both teams finished as the state football runner-up in separate classes.
Williamstown will be seeking its third championship since that chance meeting in 2007, while the Mavericks are looking for their first football title in school history.
“You are really looking at two No. 1 teams here because we both finished with the same points. We just won the tie-breaker,” Mustain said.” They are really similar to us and they have some very good skill people.”
Running back Rickie Allen leads the ‘Jackets with over 1,400 yards. The scary part about the senior tailback is his explosive speed. Last week against Doddridge County, Allen rolled up 180 yards on just nine carries.
“That not only shows the ability of their line up front, but it shows they have some speed,” Mustain said. “I think it is more speed than people realize. They get a lot of big yardage off the edge.”
When Allen is not burning opposing defenses, quarterback Maxwell Molessa is creating havoc with his dual threat ability. The junior signal-caller has passed for over 700 yards and ran for 851 more yards. He has accounted for 20 touchdowns.
“When you look at their receiving stats they are fairly even. They have four or five kids that have a decent number of receptions and yards,” Mustain said. “They run more than they pass, but I look at them as a very balanced team.”
Williamstown also brings a stout defense to Wheeling. Prior to the Doddridge win, the Yellowjackets established a new Class A preliminary round playoff record by allowing negative five total yards in the win over East Hardy.
“Allen is a really good linebacker as well,” Mustain said. “They have two or three lineman that are stout. One kid has blocked like three or four punts this year. They have a lot of components that are worrisome.”
While Williamstown will provide another tough rushing test for the Mavericks, this is not the first high-powered rushing attack the boys from Lindside has encountered.
“We have seen a lot of good running backs this year and we know that you have to be able to stop the run,” Mustain said. “If we can do that we have to be on our toes in the defensive backfield.”
Many across the state expected Williamstown to be in Wheeling, but outside of southern West Virginia, many thought the opponent would be Wheeling Central.
The Mavericks proceeded to dominate the Maroon Knights in the semifinal round last week and controlled the game from the opening kickoff.
“We have to come out focused and in the right frame of mind. We have to do our jobs offensively and defensively,” Mustain said. “I feel like if we do that we have a really good chance. We have to do all phases of the game well.”
Mustain also believes his team has an edge mentally coming off of the basketball championship.
“I think it has been a big help. We have several starters on this team that played fairly significant roles on the basketball team,” Mustain said. “I think the drive to win that basketball title has been brought over to the football program and rubbed off on all the kids.”
One of the key players on the basketball team is all-stater Eli Allen. In Allen’s eyes, the two are very similar. The basketball team had to fight the doubters and nay-sayers along the way as well.
“Nobody has expected us to do this. We have been sorta disrespected in a way all season. They have said we don’t play anybody and stuff like that,” Allen said. “To come out and beat Wheeling (Central) like we did was a great feeling. Hopefully we can get it done again in Wheeling on Saturday.”
The game will kickoff Saturday at 7 p.m.