It’s hard to stay upbeat in a down year. It’s even harder to do so without having won a game since September 2014.
But at every Strawberry Crest game, one thing is constant: Theo Williams getting hyped.
Williams, a senior running back, has been one of the lone bright spots for this winless Chargers team, on and off the playing field. On the field, he’s proven to be Crest’s most consistent asset in the backfield and a dangerous player in space. On the sideline, he can be found pumping up his teammates and celebrating every positive play the Chargers make.
“On this team, I’m a leader,” Williams says. “I’m a captain. My coaches, they gave me the position to lead this team, so I know I’ve got to come to practice every day with a positive mind to push these players — even when I have a bad day. I’ve got to come out positive.”
He’s one of only four Chargers who was listed on the varsity roster for the program’s glory days — its 2013 season, when it nearly made the playoffs under head coach John Kelly — along with Freddie Dixon, Connor Smith and Devonte Lowe. Williams credits teammates from days past with passing valuable lessons in leadership down to him.
“The last couple of years, I was kind of a quiet guy because we had other seniors that really led the team,” Williams says. “Josh Engram, Matt Chaney, those guys that played here years back. I used to always look at them, see how they led the team … they told me it was going to go by fast, and I didn’t really think about it until it was my time now. I knew I had to step into that role and be a leader on this team.”
Despite being small for a running back — Williams is listed at 5 foot 6, 150 pounds — the senior knows he can make defenders pay for underestimating him if he just gets some space to work with.
“I’ve got a lot of heart, and I’ve got to just run hard, every play,” Williams says.
And, in the case of the Chargers, he believes the team can break its losing streak and snatch that elusive first win from a team that underestimates them too heavily.
THE LONGHORNS
Perhaps that team could be the Lennard Longhorns, currently reeling from a beatdown at the hands of the Durant Cougars.
It was Lennard that first dashed Durant’s playoff hopes in the 2015 season, and Durant hadn’t forgotten that game: the Cougars hung 44 unanswered points on Lennard Friday, Sept. 23, in a shutout win. Durant ran for a combined 348 yards and four touchdowns, and Carlton Potter threw two touchdown passes in the win.
The Cougars nearly had three 100-yard rushers in the game — led by freshman Tyrhon Brooks’ 114 yards. That bodes well for Crest, which is also a run-first team that likes to use multiple running backs.
Although Durant consistently gets solid play from its offensive linemen, the results still proved Lennard’s run defense is suspect. It’s allowed an average of 322 yards and four touchdowns per game over the last two contests.
That’s good news for Williams and his teammates in the backfield.
“They run a three-man front,” Williams says. “When we’ve played teams like that, we’ve had great success … running through those holes, I get through them because I’m small. Just hit the hole hard. I’m going to get through it.”
It is not, however, an automatic win for Crest. The Longhorns did pick up a 26-7 win over another currently winless team, King, earlier this season, in which running back Jahryn Bailey gained 146 of the team’s 152 rushing yards and both rushing touchdowns. Bailey racked up 220 yards and all four team touchdowns in last year’s 28-21 win over Crest, though Lennard’s lead back has not produced at the same level in 2016.
If Lennard hopes to get back on track and threaten for a playoff spot, as it did in 2015, sleeping on Strawberry Crest would not be wise.
Contact Justin Kline at jkline@plantcityobserver.com.