By Bob Sutton
Special to The Alamance News
Williams passed – literally – its biggest test of the Mid-Carolina Conference football season.
The Bulldogs did so by throwing the ball so effectively that Western Alamance didn’t have answers Friday night in Elon.
Behind a constant barrage of yardage pick-ups through the air on Kyrian Fuller’s passes, the visiting Bulldogs bolted away with a 49-21 victory, clinching a conference championship for the second year in a row.
“We had a pretty tough time moving the ball with our power offense, but we could throw the ball,” receiver Zach Powell said. “It’s just timing throws and we’re all there.”
Fuller threw for 287 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 22-for-28 passing in three quarters. William Overby made seven catches for 148 yards, with his 56-yarder late in the first quarter giving the Bulldogs the lead for good. Amarion Richmond ran for four touchdowns.
“I wasn’t expecting it to be like that,” Fuller said. “But we’ve got a lot of weapons on the offensive side.”
Williams (8-1 overall, 5-0 Mid-Carolina Conference) has defeated the Warriors (7-2, 5-1) in the last seven meetings. The final score was the same as last year when the Bulldogs won with the teams meeting in a late-season game with undefeated conference records.
“It feels amazing,” Williams linebacker Nathan Williams-Medley said. “We just had to take care of business, do our job. Offense came out here doing their thing – every play, every drive.”
The Bulldogs scored touchdowns on four of their final five first-half possessions.
“We played so good on offense,” Williams coach Patrick Stokes said. “Kyrian played with the most poise I’ve ever seen him play with. He had time to do it because of our line.”
The Warriors couldn’t keep up with the Bulldogs’ speed and pace.
“Their tempo was something,” Western coach Jeff Snuffer said. “We’re used to tempo, but they’re good at it.”
Williams scored first following Elijah Kimber’s sack that caused a fumble with teammate Evan Bigelow returning the turnover to the Western 10-yard line. Richmond ran in from 2 yards out.
Western countered on Ethan Oakley’s 63-yard TD pass play to Colten Hill.
Then came Overby’s big catch and run down the sideline. Fuller’s 4-yard pass to Powell helped stretch the lead to 21-7, capping a 76-yard drive that included four different players catching passes.
Before the end of the half, the Bulldogs covered 45 yards with three pass plays and Richmond’s 9-yard touchdown run to lead 28-7 at the break. Fuller was 19-for-22 for 221 yards in the first half.
“Their passing game was very impressive,” Snuffer said. “Receivers making plays in traffic with people on them.”
Following a Western fumble, Richmond’s 1-yard run opened the second-half scoring. Jordan Hall, who rushed for 92 yards, scored on Western’s next possession on a 1-yard run.
Richmond, who racked up 83 rushing yards, completed his scoring on a 9-yard burst before the teams traded fourth-quarter touchdowns. Hill scored on a 26-yard pass from Oakley, while Williams running back Jazian Bigelow scored from 4 yards out.
Western lost starting linebacker Weston Greene to an injury early in the second quarter and he was held out the rest of the game for precautionary reasons, Snuffer said.
Even with the game’s first big momentum play when Dawson Boysel tackled Richmond in the backfield on a fourth-down play to halt the game’s opening possession, the Warriors didn’t have enough as their seven-game winning streak ended.
“I loved the effort and the fight out there,” Snuffer said.
