The already-powerful
Archbishop Rummel (Metairie, La.) ground game received a welcome boost last week with the healthy emergence of senior quarterback
Damian Williams, who rushed for his first two touchdowns in a 40-9 victory over West Jefferson (Harvey).
Damian Williams, Archbishop Rummel
Courtesy photo
The
6-foot-1, 225-pound Williams showed just how powerful the unbeaten
Raiders can become with their offensive leader fully recovered from a
hamstring injury that sidelined him for the first two games of the
season.
Top-ranked Rummel breezed past ninth-ranked West
Jefferson, with Williams rushing 17 times for 117 yards, including
scores of 3 and 2 yards. Williams also gave the run-oriented Raiders a
spark through the air in completing 3 of 7 passes for 108 yards,
featuring touchdown tosses of 41 and 62 yards.
Williams' display
was enough to improve Rummel to 6-0 overall in its District 9-5A opener
while earning him distinction as the New Orleans Capital One Bank High
Yield Student Athlete of the Week.
"That's the first time we've been able to game-plan him running the ball," Rummel coach Jay Roth said.
Rest
assured it won't be the last for the four-year starter, whose team will
visit Chalmette on Friday. West Jefferson will visit Slidell.
For
the season, Williams has rushed 47 times for 201 yards, Roth said,
while completing 29 of 49 (60 percent) passes for 600 yards. Williams
prefers throwing from the pocket, Roth said, and doesn't haphazardly run
the ball. When the play calls for him to do so, that's another story.
"People
respect us running the football," Roth said. "They have to respect us a
lot more when he (Williams) is healthy."
Williams' 3-yard
touchdown run came in the first minute and set the game's tone. Williams
rushed for more than half his yards in the first two quarters, and
Rummel finished with nearly 300 yards rushing.
After pulverizing West Jefferson with his running, Williams caught the
Buccaneers off guard with second-quarter touchdown passes of 41 yards to
running back Keith Fulton and 62 yards to tight end Keron Castillo.
That extended the Raiders' halftime lead to 27-3.
"I really
didn't see before the year us being where we are," Roth said of Rummel's
fast start. "It's been a good ride. Everybody gives us their best
shot."
The Raiders have been able to withstand all upset attempts
with a powerful rushing attack and a suffocating defense. They have
scored less than 40 points in a game just once all season while holding
opponents to an average of less than 10 points per game. Williams gives
reason to believe the overpowering offensive production will continue.
It also reinforced the notion that with Williams now at full strength, the best is yet to come.
