Spartans march to win behind Williams’ running game

By Phil Cobb | October 13, 2017 |

Westyn Williams of South Holt/Nodaway-Holt speeds down the side on his way to a 20-yard touchdown for the Spartans in their 52-7 early-ending win over North-West Nodaway Friday in Burlington Junction. Williams scored five touchdowns and threw for a sixth in the win.

BURLINGTON JUNCTION, Mo. — Westyn Williams of South Holt/Nodaway-Holt made his way against the North-West Nodaway Muskets Friday night as he ran for five touchdowns in the early-ending game in Burlington Junction. The Spartans won the game 52-7 with 2:23 left on the clock in the third quarter to end the regular season on a high note for SHNH.

“When their quarterback went out that really hurt them,” SHNH coach Jonn Casey said. “But our defense put a lot of pressure on them. We don’t have a lot of power, but we’ve just got a lot of speed and that helped us on both sides tonight.”

If that wasn’t enough for the running back, Williams also made a 44-yard halfback pass connection to Reagan Morris to have his hands in the fifth of seven total touchdowns for the Spartans. The senior finished the night with 333 yards rushing on 29 carries.

“He’s fast,” Casey said. “He’s quick on the edge and their guys just over pursued and opened up several cut-back lanes for him tonight and he took advantage of that.”

For the Muskets, their misfortune fell during their only touchdown play of the night. A 14-yard scramble by quarterback Korbin Koch led to a dive into the end zone, but the play resulted in a knee injury that left Koch unable to return. The Muskets had the 7-6 lead late in the first quarter, but Koch was a key role on both sides of the ball. That role was sorely missed.

“Things just went downhill for us after that,” North-West Nodaway coach Cody Marriott said. “He plays a huge role for us.”

Cole Alloway of SHNH was also injured a few plays later. That’s when Williams turned up the tempo to get his game going.

The 7-6 North-West Nodaway lead carried into the second quarter but didn’t last long. Early in the second quarter Williams scored his second of the night, breaking three tackles down the sideline on his way to a 19-yard score to put the Spartans back up. Williams scored a couple minutes later on a four-yard carry. He later scored on a 20-yard run to make it 30-7 with 1:12 remaining in the half.

The Muskets were unable to close out the half with their possession, punting with :11 left in the second quarter. The very next play a 44-yard halfback pass from Williams to Morris added to the lead for the Spartans as they led 36-7 into halftime.

Williams scored his fifth score of the night five minutes into the third quarter on a 38-yard carry for a 44-7 lead.

Five minutes later Tad Smock picked up the game winner with a 24-yard run to end the game early.

The win moves the Spartans to 4-5 while the Muskets fall to 2-7 to end the regular season. Districts will begin October 20 for both teams with brackets to be released in the coming days.

North-West Nodaway quarterback Korbin Koch dives into the end zone to finish off a 14-yard run in the first quarter. Unfortunately, Koch was injured in the play and was unable to finish out the game.

Regan Morris goes untouched to finish off a 44-yard halfback pass from Westyn Williams to finish out the first half as the Spartans go up 36-7 over the Muskets.