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WILLIAMSBURG -- The Williamsburg football team, its coaches and the entire community will look at the boxscore from Friday night's District 6 1A playoff opener against Ferndale, and they will all see plenty of numbers that reflect how well the Blue Pirates moved the ball from start to finish. But then they will get to the turnover portion, and their eyes will stop dead in their tracks.
"You can't turn the ball over like we did, but give credit to Ferndale because we hadn't really turned the ball over much all year," said Williamsburg coach Bob Hearn, whose 7-3 team was upset -- 21-12 -- by a 4-6 Yellow Jackets squad making its first playoff appearance since 1995.
Williamsburg, hosting a playoff game for the first time ever, lost the ball five times, three on the ground and two through the air. Two of the turnovers came in the red zone.
"Maybe it was a little bit of us being anxious, but the Ferndale kids really came after us," Hearn said.
And that they did, in the form of a muddle huddle, or polecat offense, to start the game. Ferndale came out with five wide left, a player hiking the ball who actually snapped the ball sideways like you might see in your backyard, and several players to the right.
"We did it the first two games of the year, then we got away from it," Ferndale coach Donnie Robertson said. "We just wanted to show something different. We didn't realize it would work as well as it did, but it gives the next team we play something to think about."
Ferndale used it on an eight-play, 65-yard drive, scoring on a 4-yard touchdown pass from Hunter Kinsey to Nate Pudliner. The PAT pass attempt failed, but it was 6-0 at the 8:56 mark.
"We had not seen that on film," Hearn said of the Ferndale offense to start the game.
Williamsburg's first drive ended after seven plays when quarterback Aden McMonagle's pass was picked off by Kinsey. That turned into eight points for the Yellow Jackets as Pudliner caught a 47-yard touchdown pass from Kinsey at the 3:30 mark. The two hooked up on a two-point pass attempt for a 14-0 lead.
"We had seen film on them and we really worked on our pass coverage," Hearn said. "Their kid throws a nice ball and their receivers are really good."
Williamsburg gave its fans something to cheer about, scoring on its next drive that took four plays and just 51 yards after a bad kickoff by Ferndale. Rashadd Knorr scored on a 35-yard run at the 1:30 mark. The PAT kick failed, leaving the score at 14-6.
In the second quarter, Williamsburg seemed to be going in for another score when a bad break by the Pirates turned out to be a good thing for Ferndale. On the fourth play of a drive that started at the Pirates' 40, McMonagle raced around the right end for what turned out to be a 7-yard run down to the 16 yard line. However, he was tackled, fumbled the ball and Roemello Shirey scooped up the ball and ran 84 yards for a touchdown. The Pudliner PAT kick at the 7:04 mark made it 21-6, stunning the large crowd.
"We ran a cornerback blitz off the edge there because we wanted to stop their outside running game. They are really good at that," Robertson said. "Nate made a heckuva hit on the kid, and Shirey is a heckuva player. The opportunity was there for him."
Ferndale did not score again in the game, and managed just four first downs the rest of the way. Williamsburg, which finished with 281 yards of offense, 239 of which came on the ground, made it to the Ferndale 29 in the third quarter before turning the ball over on downs. It's second drive ended with a fumble on a handoff from McMonagle to Justin Verbonitz. That came at the 11-yard line of Ferndale with 54 seconds to play in the third quarter.
Williamsburg finally cashed in on a drive in the fourth quarter, scoring with 8:16 to go in the game when McMonagle, who totaled 114 yards on 26 carries, scored from a yard out. The two-point pass attempt failed, leaving it 21-12.
"I think our defensive line played really well. We give up 60 to 70 pounds on the line, but it is all about heart and that is what our guys played with," Robertson said. "We are the underdog every time we step on the field."
Williamsburg got the ball back two more times in the final 4:10 of the game. The Pirates were stopped at midfield on a fourth-and-one play, and an interception by Brennan Mitchell with 1:04 to go in the game sealed Williamsburg's fate.
Of the 28 players listed on the Williamsburg roster, 12 seniors played their final game. Of the 31 players on the Ferndale roster, just four are seniors.
"Our guys have been great to work with," Hearn said. "These guys went from 3-7 last year to 7-3 this year, and a couple of those games were close losses. I am really proud of that senior group. They did the things to make the program better."
Ferndale is at Northern Cambria next Saturday.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Ferndale 14 7 0 0 -- 21
Williamsburg 6 0 0 6 -- 12
First quarter
F--Pudliner 4 pass from Kinsey (pass failed), 8:56
F-- Pudliner 47 pass from Kinsey (Pudliner pass from Kinsey), 3:30
W--Knorr 35 run (kick failed), 1:30
Second quarter
F--Shirey 84 fumble return (Pudliner kick), 7:04
Fourth quarter
W--McMonagle 1 run (pass failed), 8:16
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Ferndale--Kinsey 14-30 Shirey 4-51, Herring 1-0, Ribblett 9-27, Koreneski 2-1, TEAM 1-(-1). Williamsburg--Gunnett 11-28, McMonagle 26-114, Verbonitz 1-0, Knorr 8-72, Carper 3-19.
PASSING: Ferndale--Kinsey 9-21-0-147. Williamsburg--McMonagle 3-11-2-42, Knorr 0-1-0-0.
RECEIVING: Ferndale--Pudliner 4-75, Newcomer 1-10 Herring 1-31, Shirey 3-31. Williamsburg--Rhoads 1-18, Verbonitz 1-16, Knorr 1-8.
INTERCEPTIONS: Ferndale--Kinsey, Mitchell.
TEAM STATISTICS F W
First downs 11 16
Rushes-yards 31-108 50-239
Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 9-21-0 3-12-2
Yards passing 147 42
Total yards 255 281
Fumbles-lost 2-0 3-3
Penalties-yards 5-25 3-11
Punts-avg. 7-28.4 2-45.5