Williams Field makes statement with 21-10 win over rival Higley

Williams Field defeated Higley 21-10 and beat their arch rivals for the first time in three years despite a lackluster start to the game.

On the first possession of the game, the Black Hawks put together a nice drive to land themselves deep into Higley territory. 

They came up empty-handed handed though, as the 33-yard field goal was missed. 

Their next possession didn’t come out any better as Higley was able to force a turnover. 

It was junior defensive back Nasim Eason who made a diving snag for the interception. 

After a great field position, Higley’s offense could only generate three points as they had multiple penalties called against them.

Senior kicker Kaden Olson was the one to make the 33-yard field goal to give Higley the first three points of the game. 

Things started to look grim for Williams Field in the first half as they couldn’t generate anything on offense, and Higley was able to add onto their lead. 

Late in the second quarter, Higley’s junior wide receiver Anthony Palka took a jet sweep run play 28 yards to the endzone for a touchdown. 

Williams Field head coach Steve Campbell said his team has had experience trailing before, but knew they had to break a habit of losing. 

“We had to break a habit of losing. Winning is a habit, losing is a habit,” Campbell said. “That’s what the focus was this year. We said one play mentality, then shift the momentum back the other way.” 

Knowing they had to get something going before halftime, Williams Field marched down the field in a hurry.

With less than a minute to go, Williams Field got on the board as their junior quarterback Dominick Barjona hit senior wide receiver Liam Porter in stride for a 31-yard touchdown. 

In the second half, Williams Field dominated on the ground and time of possession.

Their first drive of the third quarter was an over-eight-minute drive. 

It was dominated on the ground by their two-headed backfield in Illinois State commit Q Skillings and 3-star San Jose State commit Courshawn Hill. 

The eight-minute drive was capped off by Hill with a 12-yard rushing touchdown. 

Hill mentioned how he and Skillings push each other and lift one another up instead of being selfish. It is why they are such a dominant duo. 

“The reason why we are good is because we’re not selfish, we want each other to win,” Hill said. “Pick your poison, go with him, you’re going to have to deal with me later. Go with me, you’re going to deal with him later.” 

The fourth quarter was almost exactly the same for Williams Field. 

Once again, they put together another long, methodical drive that was dominated in the trenches and ground game.

For the second time of the night, they had an eight-minute drive that resulted in finding the end zone.

This time, it was Skillings who found the endzone for Williams Field from nine yards out. 

Skillings is a senior and wanted to change the script against Higley and help his team in any way he could to get the win over the Knights. 

“High expectations coming into this game, we’ve been down three years in a row,” Skillings said. “We said we put a stop to that.” 

After the long Williams Field drive, Higley had less than 5 minutes to work with while trailing by 11 points. 

The Knights were able to get down to Williams Field territory quickly; however, they failed to find the end zone. 

Completing the second half shutout, Williams Field came away with an interception. 

Making the game-sealing interception was Williams Field’s senior defensive back Armando Villareal.

After beating Higley, who is a top team in 6A, Williams Field knows they have to prepare the same way against Brophy next week and prepare the same way every week.

“We’re preparing the same no matter what,” Campbell said. “You have to trust the process. We’ll stay with our process.” 

Next up: 7-2 Williams Field takes on 5-4 Brophy to close out the regular season. 6-3 Higley will look for a bounce-back win versus 6-3 Centennial.