Williamson Takes Back Homecoming

Last Saturday, alumni and parents joined Williamson students in celebrating the School’s first victory against Stevens Institute of Technology in fifteen games – a losing streak dating back to 1999 [click for full season schedule and results].

As a result of the 3 inches of rain that fell since Wednesday, the alumni baseball and soccer games scheduled for Homecoming morning were canceled.  With the forecast calling for clearing shortly after noon, the football game commenced under sunny skies.

To say that this 9-8 win was an upset might be putting it mildly.  Williamson lost to Stevens three weeks ago by a score of 55-7. 

With four players injured including starting free safety Sean Lyons, head coach Bill Haines knew if he could get solid play from his line on both sides of the ball Williamson could pull off the miracle victory.  “We really challenged the linemen to step it up and they did just that.”

It was Williamson’s offensive line that set the tempo this time around with  131 rushing yards, including an 11 yard touchdown run by Curtis Schofield, and 8 1st downs. 

The defense was lead by freshman cornerback Shane Coyle (Sun Valley) as he tied a school record with 3 interceptions.  Junior defensive end John Paul Conneen (Cardinal O’Hara) also had a monster game with 3.5 sacks to go with 11 tackles.

The teams were scoreless until 10:13 left in the 3rd quarter when Stevens tackled Curtis Schofield in the end zone for a safety.  Stevens then took advantage of great field position after the ensuing kick-off to move 45 yards in 4 plays for a touchdown, however, they missed the extra point.  And what a huge miss it would turn out to be.

Williamson then put together a 9 play 52 yard touchdown drive taking the score to 8-6. Midway through the 4th quarter Williamson turned to Forrest who did not let them down as he nailed the 29 yard field goal despite the muddy conditions. 

“I’m so happy for Pat.  That is 2 games he has won at the end for us and today’s was huge for him. To handle the pressure the way he did I am so proud of him, ” commented Haines.

Williamson’s defense, which let up over 400 yards to Stevens earlier in the year, came up big once again when senior cornerback Dennis Dougherty intercepted a Kyle Bennett pass to thwart a drive by Stevens with 4:21 left in the game.   

“Very few people thought we could pull this off.  Very few besides the coaches and the players.  The Daily Times even had us losing by 21 prior to the game!  We stuck together all week and despite some adversity we pulled through as a team.  After 15 losses in a row to Stevens, this one feels great.”

With the win Williamson, which moves to 4-5 on the year and 2-1 in the conference, remains in the hunt for a piece of the Seaboard Conference championship.  A Stevens win over Valley Forge Military next week will give Williamson a share of the crown for the 1st time since 1996.  Considering they had not won a single league game since 2000 things are starting to look up for the Williamson football program.  They close out their regular season next week at home against Walter Reed and a win would give them a .500 for the first time since 2000 as well.