Rummel quarterback Damian Williams did it all in a 40-9 win over West Jefferson, rushing 17 times for 117 yards and two scores and adding 108 yards passing and two more touchdowns.
File courtesy photo
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, 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.
Damian Williams, Rummel
Courtesy photo
"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.
