In the fall of 1976, when Coach Evans turned to administrative duties full-time, a new head football coach, Pete Stout, was hired, and the Williams athletic program changed from class 4-A to class 3-A. The 1980 football team won the state championship, the first for Williams. A second state championship was won in 1981. The Bulldog teams during both these championship seasons had a record of 14-0, a record that has not been matched at the school. The 1982 team also went undefeated until the first round of the 3-A playoffs, losing to Jamestown Ragsdale 7-6 in a torrential rainstorm that covered the state of North Carolina. Coach Stout left Williams in 1983 for Catawba College (now University) and their football program.