CHARLESTON, W.Va. — By the time Frankfort was tackled for the first time Friday, the Falcons had two touchdowns on the board, and they were far from finished.
Carder Shanholtz took Frankfort’s first play 89 yards to the house, and Jullian Pattison broke a tackle on its second and rumbled 41 yards for a 14-0 lead before a single Falcon was brought to the ground.
Roane County made Frankfort work harder for it thereafter, but the next five drives concluded in the end zone all the same.
Pattison scored five touchdowns, he and Shanholtz topped 100 yards rushing behind Frankfort’s massive, senior-laden offensive line, and the top-seeded Falcons pounded second-seeded Roane County, 49-14, in the Class AA state championship game on Friday at Laidley Field at the University of Charleston.
The state title is Frankfort’s first in school history.
“It’s all I’ve ever wanted,” Frankfort head coach Kevin Whiteman said. “And to finally get the chance to do it, it was awesome. … I’m so happy for the Frankfort community. Look at all the people that were here to support us. Forty-nine years in our school history, we finally have a championship.”
It was Frankfort’s second state title appearance. The Falcons fell to Bridgeport in the 2014 final. Ridgeley, a since consolidated school in the Frankfort district, won the state championship in 1975.
Frankfort finishes the season 14-0, outscoring its opponents by an average of 44.5-7.2. The 623 scored this year is a school record — 111 more than second place (2014).
Roane County entered with the same 13-0 record that Frankfort did, but the Raiders were no match in their first title appearance.
“They’re big. They’re strong. All their backs are good,” Roane County head coach Paul Burdette said. “They got to our linebackers really good. … I didn’t think we tackled well in the first quarter, and that really hurt us.”
Pattison finished with 178 yards on nine carries, Shanholtz rushed for 121 on four totes, Uriah Cutter completed a 44-yard touchdown pass to Blake Jacobs and linebacker Jett McCullough racked up a game-high 12 tackles.
Frankfort rushed for 325 yards on 21 rushes for a yards per carry of 15.5.
Including Cutter’s 3-for-4, 87-yard day as a passer, Frankfort gained 16.5 yards per play overall.
Pattison’s touchdown total was one off the Class AA state championship game record set last year by Fairmont Senior’s Dylan Ours — the son of Wes Ours, the 1995 area Player of the Year at Westmar.
The senior found the end zone on runs of 51, 41, 41, 25 and one yards.
“I knew I was going to have a good game,” said Pattison, who was named the game’s Most Valuable Player. “I watched hours of film this week. I put everything into this. I knew I had to do something to get this win for my team.”
The Falcons’ line of Daniel Marley, Bryer Michaels, Caden Whitacre, Lane Lease and Brayden Shipway produced gaping holes, frequently getting linemen to the second level to block Roane’s inside backers Lane Watson and Clay Walker.
Frankfort needed just 20 plays to score six touchdowns for a 42-0 lead. Its margin stood at 21-0, 28-0 and 42-6 after the first three quarters.
“We went in knowing they were a good team, that they were going to put up a fight,” Marley said. “Bottom line, we just knew that they weren’t us.”
The Falcons’ defense bent, giving up 274 rushing yards on 50 carries and 15 first downs, but it didn’t break.
Roane’s first five drives ended on downs three times and via fumble twice.
McCullough and Lease had recoveries and Braydn Tyler intercepted a pass.
Watson still put up 134 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries, but Roane didn’t find the zone until Shay Harper’s 25-yard rushing touchdown to cut the Falcons’ lead to 42-6 with 3:20 to play in the third quarter.
“Our defensive line was doing pretty well up front,” said McCullough, the Falcons’ leading tackler at linebacker. “Linebackers, the whole team, they were all filling the gaps really well. Reading the hole, sitting and reading instead of just rushing and taking off like crazy.”
Watson capped the scoring with a 33-yard touchdown run in the fourth.
The game featured an early momentum change, and Roane County seemed to never recover.
Roane County won the coin flip and elected to receive, and it drove into the red zone after eight plays.
The Raiders were stopped inches short on fourth down, and one play later, Shanholtz was jogging into the end zone to cap an 89-yard TD.
The Falcons scored on their next six drives too, capping a dominating season with a commanding rout in the state championship game.
“We came out on fire, we were very physical and I think we set the tone,” Whiteman said. “They had that first drive, and I was a little worried, but after that we settled in and really played a great game. I’m just so proud of our kids.
“I’m just proud of my coaches to putting a good plan together. The kids embraced it, had a good week of practice and I felt pretty confident coming in that we could come and get the job done.”