--GRAFTON-VA-- The Hornets season ended with a thud, as Williamsburg could do very little to move the ball against the Grafton-Tabb defensive front, while on the other side of the line, the Tigers compiled nearly 300-yds of offense against a Hornets team that hadn’t yielded that much yardage in 5 prior games combined, as the Tigers ended Williamsburg’s playoff run early with a 20 – 0 thumping.

 

With the Hornets offense unable to move the ball … four 1^st half possessions ending in 2 punts, a turnover on downs, and a fumble … the Hornets defense was forced to stay on the field facing 50 Tiger offensive plays.

 

Hunter Brittain was all over the field on defense getting in on 9 tackles, several for loss, and several to stop long runs downfield. Defensive lineman Josh Womeldorf had an excellent day tallying 7-tackles, while Bryant Walker was in on 7-stops as well. Caleb Massie was in on 2-tackles. Austin Madeira, pressed into d-line work, also recorded a tackle.

 

It’s never good when your Safety is one of your leading tacklers, but Hornet deep man Conner Simmons had a career high tackling performance, getting in on 6 tackles while Cornerback Garrett Turner accounted for 6-tackles of his own including several one-on-one stops against a much larger Grafton-Tabb Quarterback who was often running free toward Turner’s sideline position.

 

From their Linebacker positions, Zach Pope and Jordan Turner both registered 5-tackles and Chase Dively had 3 stops. Hornet defenders Tyler Neville, Carter Weissenfluh and Monii Burden each were in on a tackle as well.

 

Offensively, Williamsburg’s only spark came to start the 2^nd half when the Hornets, trailing 14 – 0, moved the ball to the Tigers' 8-yd line. Some solid inside running and play-calling by Brittain (10 carries / 50-yds) and Butler (5-carries) behind revived blocking up front by Cooper Minor, Adam O’Neill, Kade Campbell, Justin Hicks and Alan Walker helped Williamsburg move close before an interception ended the threat.

 

One of Williamsburg’s biggest offensive weapons on the day was the Hornets punt team. Punter Tadic Mielczarek handled both of Center Clayton Vinson’s perfect punt snaps, and booted a solid 35 yd punt in the 1^st quarter with the wind at his back, pinning the Tigers deep; then got off a super 20-yd punt into gale force winds and in the face of a solid rush, to dig the Hornets out of a hole just before halftime.

 

Grafton-Tabb scored mid-way through the 4^th quarter to put the Hornets down 20 – 0.

 

After that, kick-returner Zach New set the Hornets up in solid field position with a 20-yd run back. From there, Preston Williams (3 carries / 11-yds) had a nice run, and Josh Coley had a carry behind the blocking of TJ Davis, Caleb Filicko, Nick Doyle and Zach Stallings.

 

Defensively, Zackery Thompson, Mickey Smith, Devon Morehead and Ryan Pastirik were in on tackles for the Hornets on Grafton-Tabb’s final possession of the game, while Jalen Fowler and Trent Powell shored up the back wall of defenders to prevent any further scores.