As a starting safety, Oswego’s Donovan Williams is more than happy to perform his duties.
There are times, however, when he needs to pull in resources from some of his other talents for the Panthers. It’s particularly the case when the football is tipped in the air by his teammates.
That’s when his skills as a center fielder, and then as a running back, come into play.
“Right place, right time,” Williams said with a knowing nod. “When the ball is in the air, I’ve got to go get it. I play center field too, so I have the baseball mindset. I’ve got to go get it.”
Williams picked up his second interception return for a touchdown in three weeks in Friday’s 27-7 Suburban Prairie West win at Yorkville, and this time it proved to be the game’s critical score.
His interception with 4:46 left in the first quarter led to an 88-yard TD return. Oswego (7-0, 3-0) followed that up with rushing TDs in the second half from Carson Cooney and Teddy Manikas.
The Panthers added a pair of field goals from Kaleb Stumpenhorst. For Yorkville (3-4, 1-2), Jack Beetham threw for 137 yards, with a 49-yard TD pass to Northern Illinois recruit Dyllan Malone.
Yorkville was driving on its first possession but stalled with a couple of negative plays. Beetham went to the air on third-and-19 and the ball was tipped. And right there was Williams.
“I was like, ‘I’ve got to get that,’” Williams said. “From there, I was just trying to read my blocks. As soon as I caught the ball, I started looking for my blocks, seeing what I could get from the return.”
Once he started running, his skills as a running back kicked into gear.
“Once I cut it back, there was a ton of green field ahead of me,” Williams said. “Got a block, made the quarterback miss, was able to score. That was a big play. We started out flat but got it done.”
It can be hard to call a play that early in the game the deciding factor at times, but there was no doubt that with Oswego’s defense and ability to run the ball, having the early lead was crucial.
“Our defense isn’t all that flashy,” Oswego coach Brian Cooney said. “They’re just in the right spot. The guys up front did a nice job of popping it up. I’m not sure who it was, but Donnie was there.”
Once Williams started to return the ball, Cooney was just hoping the Panthers could retain possession. Williams made sure that wasn’t a problem.
“He does play running back for us, so ball security isn’t as big of an issue,” Cooney said. “Credit to the other 10 guys because we like to hit people and we have a tendency to get a flag on the play.
“There must have been some good blocking. I’m proud of him — big momentum swing.”
Yorkville struggled to sustain drives against Oswego’s stout defense the rest of the way. The lone TD for the Foxes came when they were already down 20 points.
Yorkville coach Dan McGuire lamented the fact they saw a play like Williams’ on film and still fell victim to it.
“That’s what they’ve done all year long,” McGuire said. “At least the past couple games, they’ve had the same situation. We talked about it this week, about how we couldn’t let that happen.”
Oswego looks to maintain its perfect record next Friday against Minooka, which beat Yorkville 21-7 last week. Williams will have his head on a swivel once again in that one.
“Big game, kind of got a rivalry going,” Williams said. “It’s senior night too, so we’re trying to not let that get to us and just play well.”
Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
