Cardinal Mooney’s Bryce Williams gashes Lemon Bay in spring rout

The breakthrough season Bryce Williams hoped for during the fall ended before it began.

The running back and wide receiver was ready to play a key role in Cardinal Mooney’s offense as a sophomore before a fractured knuckle knocked him out for the entire regular season. Even when he returned to the field for Cougars’ lone playoff game, it was as a wideout just so he could get a brief moment on the field during his sophomore season. The breakout season Williams felt coming during his sophomore year in Sarasota never materialized.

“It could've been,” Williams said. “It would've been. I believe so.”

His moment in the backfield finally came Saturday during Mooney’s spring game against Englewood Lemon Bay, 267 days after he missed the first game of his sophomore campaign. On the first play of his first game as Cardinal Mooney's running back, Williams took a handoff from quarterback Tristan Hillerich and ran by the left tackle, through Lemon Bay's linebackers, past the Manata Ray secondary and into the end zone at Coach John Heath Field for a 70-yard touchdown.

The rising junior added runs of 24, 46 and 53 yards, plus a 49-yard touchdown pass, to finish with 257 yards on the ground. The Cougars punished the Mantas with their run game and added an efficient passing attack to rout the Lemon Bay, 37-7, at Austin Smithers Stadium.

“He has a lot of different ways that he can run the ball,” head coach Drew Lascari said.

With 11 carries, one pass and two touchdowns, Williams made a compelling supporting arguments for his assertions about missing his sophomore season. He burned the Manta Rays to run for touchdowns untouched. He bulldozed them with stiff arms and tilted shoulders and sliced through them with patience when fatigue set in. Even in a game in which fellow running back Sam Koscho ran for 150 yards, Williams’ production was at a different level.

His first run was an untouched dash past the Manta defense to give Mooney the 7-0 lead it never relinquished.

“It felt good being back,” Williams said.

He totaled more than 100 yards during the Cougars’ playoff loss to Fort Pierce John Carroll, but he was waiting for a chance like Saturday. Later during the first half, Williams took a handoff to the left from Mooney’s 30 before switching fields for a 46-yard gain, which ended along the right sideline deep in Lemon Bay territory after breaking three tackles. Hillerich capped the drive with a 23-yard touchdown pass to running back Vinny Conetta.

The last massive run for Williams came on the penultimate play of the first half when Cardinal Mooney was just trying to burn some clock from its own 5. Williams admits he was fatigued, so he took a patient route through the middle of the defense and toward the right sideline, following behind a blocker the whole way for a 53-yard gain. Hillerich’s ensuing shot at the end zone was intercepted, but Williams had made his message clear.

“Bryce is a real special player,” Lascari said. “I think a lot of people are going to get to know Bryce Williams’ name in the coming year.”

This story was originally published May 21, 2016 at 10:53 PM with the headline "Cardinal Mooney’s Bryce Williams gashes Lemon Bay in spring rout."