Oswego, sparked by Donovan Williams’ 88-yard pick-six, turns away Yorkville to stay unbeaten

YORKVILLE – Donovan Williams’ reads on balls in the air and running skills are requirements as Oswego baseball’s center fielder.

He’s put both to good use on the football field.

For the second time in three weeks, Williams turned a tipped pass into points. The Oswego senior defensive back returned an interception 88 yards for a touchdown on the second possession of Friday’s game.

It gave visiting Oswego an early lead on Yorkville, and the Panthers never gave it back in a 27-7 Southwest Prairie West win.

Williams said Oswego (7-0, 3-0) doesn’t practice tipped balls, but he sure has looked well-versed in the art. He also returned one for a score against Plainfield North.

“It’s like a baseball mindset,” Williams said. “Ball is up in the air, gotta go get it.”

Yorkville (3-4, 1-2) looked poised to get out to an early lead on unbeaten Oswego on its first drive, but on third and 19 from the Panthers’ 32 Williams hauled in the tipped pass.

And then he zig-zagged the other way the 88 yards for a 7-0 lead with 4:46 left in the first quarter.

“I saw it get tipped in the air and thought I had to go get that, and from there I’m trying to read my blocks and take it to the crib,” Williams said. “Once I cut it back it was green field ahead of me. Made the quarterback miss and from there it was open field.”

It was Oswego’s first lead on Yorkville in three years – the Foxes shut out the Panthers the last two seasons – and Oswego’s defense knew what to do with it.

The Panthers forced two turnovers and shut out Yorkville until Jack Beetham’s 49-yard TD pass to NIU recruit Dyllan Malone with 3:12 left in the game.

Oswego coach Brian Cooney might not have expected the game’s big play to come so early, but he wasn’t surprised to see it from his defense or Williams.

“Our defense is not all that flashy – just being in the right spot, and he is speedy enough to do that, he does play running back for us,” Cooney said. “Credit to the other 10 guys. Must have been some good blocking.”

It was a big lift for an Oswego team playing short-handed offensively.

Starting running back Ayden Villa, hurt last week, did not play Friday. Backup Dekker Zelensek was injured in the first half, and did not return. Two-way standout and big-play receiver Jeremiah Cain was unavailable, but Cooney said he should be back next week when Oswego hosts 6-1 Minooka.

Oswego leaned on six players to carry the ball, Lucas Andersen rushing for a team-high 67 yards on 12 carries.

“We talk about keeping ourselves to a high standard defensively,” said Williams, one of those to get touches offensively. “We wanted to give our offense as many possessions as we can.”

Kaleb Stumpenhorst kicked two field goals, a 43-yarder giving Oswego a 10-0 halftime lead, where it remained into the fourth quarter. Carson Cooney’s 1-yard TD run a minute into the fourth quarter made it 17-0, and Stumpenhorst tacked on a 36-yard field goal.

“We knew what kind of game it would be; their coaches do a phenomenal job,” coach Cooney said. “First time in three years we were able to get on top of them. Ayden should be back next week, see what’s up with Dekker but Lucas ran his tail off and [quarterback] Brett [Connolly] did a great job asserting himself.”

Beetham was 10-for-23 for 140 yards for Yorkville. T.J. Harland ran for 70 yards on 15 carries.

Yorkville coach Dan McGuire took the blame for the play call on the Williams’ interception against an Oswego defense he warned as being tough and opportunistic. The Foxes, who play fellow 3-4 Oswego East next week, face an uphill climb toward their sixth straight playoff appearance.

“We know they have a really good defense; they’re a great team,” McGuire said. “We had to try to chip away, and I thought we had some chances to do that. I thought our problem in the first half was being behind the sticks. Anytime you’re behind the sticks against a really good defense like that, it’s unfortunately going to create mistakes.”