By Steve wilaj

sports@vindy.com

McDONALD

Standing 6-foot-1 and weighing 280 pounds, McDonald defensive tackle Carson Williams is a big guy.

On Friday, the big guy made a big play he was not accustomed to making.

Midway through the third quarter, Williams tipped a pass from Columbiana quarterback Drew Cyrus, located the ball, pulled it in and took it 5 yards to the end zone.

The play—which Williams credited to skills acquired playing basketball in gym class — was the Blue Devils’ only touchdown in a 10-7 win over Columbiana at A.A. Burkey Field.

“I saw him rolling out, then I tipped it and it was just there so I grabbed it,” Williams said of his first career TD. “I never did that before, so it was exciting.”

But Williams shouldn’t have been too surprised since, according to his dad—McDonald head coach Dan Williams—he predicted a TD earlier in the week.

“He’s talked about that all week at home,” Dan Williams said. “He said, ‘I’m gonna score this year, Dad. I’m gonna score.’ It’s good to see that. It’s good to see your kid make a big play for you and it ended up being the game winner.”

At the time, Carson Williams’ play put the Blue Devils up 10-0. Although the Clippers (6-3) answered on the next possession on Britton Steiginga’s 21-yard TD run, the Blue Devils (5-4) made sure 10 points was all they needed.

McDonald held Columbiana to 158 total yards.

“We worked really hard on defense all week,” said Carson Williams, a junior. “It was a main focus because they do all their shifting. We just had to adjust to everything they were doing.”

The Clippers hurt themselves as well, fumbling six times and losing one of those fumbles.

“I just can’t say enough about our defense and the way they responded,” Dan Williams said. “Our front four and our linebackers played an excellent game tonight.”

McDonald also played well on special teams

In what was a defensive-dominated first half, the Blue Devils moved the ball to the Clippers’ 10-yard line right before halftime, set up by Christian Rusinowski’s 34-yard run.

Finishing what he started, Rusinowski switched shoes and nailed a 27-yard field goal as time expired. The snap just beat the game clock.

“Our special teams did an excellent job to finish the half,” Dan Williams said. “We ran him out, changed shoes as fast as we can, and Christian booted it right through. He’s been solid all year for us.”