Big Second Half Fuels Comeback Win for Football

What a difference a half makes!  The Williamson football team turned the ball over four times in the first half and found themselves down 18-6 at half in their game against CAPP Football Academy.  Whatever Williamson head coach Dan Drake said to his squad at halftime is something he might want to remember,  because Williamson stormed back in the second half to outscore the Crusaders 26-2 and come away with a 32-20 victory on Saturday afternoon.

Things did not start out well for Williamson in the game, as they turned the ball over on their first series and CAPP took advantage of it, going 61 yards in five plays, capped off by a 46-yard touchdown pass from Amour Hayes to Ricky Carter at the 10:57 mark.  The extra point was no good.

Williamson came right back with a nice drive in response.  They went 57 yards in six plays with Christian Cerelli scoring from 5 yards out to tie it at 6-6.  They too failed on their extra point attempt. 

After Williamson's defense got a stop, CAPP then scored on a 20-yard interception return by Darius Whiting to go up 12-6.  They would increase their lead to 18-6 with a 42-yard drive in six plays with 1:47 left before half to cruise into half up 18-6.

As bad as things were for Williamson in the first half, the second half was the exact opposite.  CAPP received the opening kick-off and Williamson's defense came up with a big stop.  Their offense then took advantage of great field position to pull to within 18-12 on a 2-yard TD run once again by Cerelli.  The extra point attempt was blocked however, and returned 79 yards for a two-point conversion by Aiden Ward for CAPP to make the score 20-12.  From that point on, it was all Williamson.

Williamson would score again at the 6:34 mark on a two-yard run by Jason Fisicaro and then use a 2-point conversion pass from Cerelli to Nathan Barnshaw to tie things at 20-20.

The big third quarter would not end there for Williamson, as they would score yet again, this time with 1:05 left in the quarter, on a Carson Steinruck 1-yard touchdown run to go up 26-20.  A personal foul penalty gave Williamson an opportunity to go for the two-point conversion and they did just that, with Cerelli taking it in this time, to put Williamson up 28-20 heading into the fourth quarter.  Williamson had possession of the ball for a whopping 11:04 of the third quarter to just 3:56 for CAPP.

The fourth quarter was a big one as well for the Mechanics, especially the defense, and no one was bigger than senior Gabe Walsh, as he had two sacks, three hurries and a crucial safety all in the quarter.  Proving just how valuable a quality punter is, Williamson freshman punter Carson Steinruck nailed a 42 yard punt to pin CAPP back at their own 2-yard line.  Walsh broke through on the first play to sack quarterback Amaur Hayes for a safety at the 5:26 mark to put Williamson up 30-20.

Williamson would eventually get the ball back and after their drive stalled, Carson Steinruck yet again pinned CAPP back inside their three-yard line, this time on a 47-yard punt.  Freshman Jesse Rios would then force Williamson's second consecutive safety to put Williamson up 32-20 with 2:08 left. The defense shut the Crusaders down from there to give Williamson their first win on the season.

Offensively, Williamson was led by Christian Cerelli with 45 yards rushing and two touchdowns, while Shawn Bedwell added 33 yards and Jason Fisicaro chipped in with 22 yards and a touchdown.  Nasir Simmons had 5 receptions for 80 yards, while Nathan Barnshaw had 2 catches for 59 yards. 

Defensively, Gabe Walsh led the way with 7 tackles, two sacks, two tackles for loss, a safety and four hurries.  Dominic Gallo had five tackles, including one for loss and a forced fumble.  David Pownall had six tackles (one for loss), while Logan Peck added five tackles and a sack and a hurry.  Cooper Conroy had two tackles, an interception and four pass break-ups.   

"I'm proud of our guys," beamed Williamson head coach Dan Drake.  "We never quit."

"The first half was about as bad as if could be but that is why we play two halves.  Our defense really set the tone in the second half and that opened up things for our offense.

"We are such a young team but we have been seeing the work the guys have put in pay-off.  They never get down and their attitude has been great.  We continue to improve and we will continue to do so.

"Again, I could not be prouder of what they did out there today,"

Williamson travels to Lancaster next weekend to take on Thaddeus Stevens, before returning home on October 5 to host Connecticut State.