Williams’ effort enough for Downers South

Updated: September 9, 2011 11:26PM

It was as easy as one-two-three for Josh Williams and Downers South on Friday night.

Williams scored touchdowns on his team’s first three plays from scrimmage and finished with six touchdowns in less than two quarters of work as the host Mustangs routed Morton 56-0 in Downers Grove.

The six scores tied a career-high for Williams, who also did it against Willowbrook last year. He rushed 11 times for 182 yards and touchdown runs of 45, 5, 11 and 54 yards and also caught three passes for 84 yards and two more scores.

“No, I didn’t expect it to happen that way, but we came out, we executed our plays and it was just a total team effort,” Williams said. “I couldn’t do it without the guys blocking for me, the guys leading up to the holes and the guys leading around the edge for me. I’m just grateful to have such a great group of guys working with me.”

Quarterback A.J. Simoncelli, who completed 5 of 7 passes for 120 yards and three touchdowns, found Williams on a 39-yard screen pass up the left sideline to give Downers South (3-0) a 7-0 lead 67 seconds into the game.

After Korey Higgins recovered a Morton fumble two plays later, Simoncelli hit Williams on another screen, this time to the right side, for an 18-yard score. Following a short punt by Morton (1-2) on the next series, Williams scampered 45 yards up the middle for a 21-0 lead. He also scored on the Mustangs’ next two possessions as the hosts went up 35-0 after one quarter.

“It doesn’t always go according to script, but we open the game with a play, then run the same play the other way and it just seemed like the thing to do,” said Downers South coach John Belskis, who got his 190th career victory. “Our kids executed well. I’m proud of our kids. It was a fun night.”

Downers South, which recovered four Morton fumbles, had two players score their first varsity touchdowns. Senior kicker Anthony Farinella, who made eight extra points and barely missed a 40-yard field goal try, snagged a 19-yard touchdown pass from Simoncelli in the third quarter, and junior running back Austin Sun capped the scoring in the fourth quarter with a 36-yard run. Sun finished with 85 yards on 17 carries.

Farinella, who is drawing interest from Northwestern and Northern Illinois for his kicking ability, wasn’t surprised with the Mustangs’ dominance.

“No, not when we have a guy like Josh Williams in the backfield and guys who block for him who are good, too,” Farinella said. “We knew he’d score. Our coaches called the right plays. It was a good game.”

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