Williams, Hinsdale South, have a field day

p class="News">Kylen Williams will forever have fond memories of Hinsdale Central's Dickinson Field.

"I think I've got a lot of luck on this field," said Hinsdale South's junior tailback after the Hornets' opener, a 41-32 nonconference win over Romeoville.

Hinsdale South is playing at Central until its own reconstructed field is ready. That suits Williams fine. As a freshman he scored on an 85-yard run at Dickinson, but that was small potatoes to his numbers Saturday.

The 160-pound Williams ran the ball 25 times for 220 yards with touchdown runs of 44, 6 and 71 yards. The Hornets needed all of them. As coach Alex Bitto said, "All the way to the end where (Romeoville) went with the onside kick, you just didn't know."

Williams' final touchdown run where he took a pitch to the right, patiently picked his way into the clear and out-sprinted pursuit for 71 yards, gave the Hornets enough cushion, 41-24, with 6:29 left in the game.

"I just really followed my fullback (Antoine Davis), and my tight end (Keith Reidy) hooked the defensive end," Williams said. "I'm glad they did that, it led me right to the end zone."

There was a lot of that. After Reidy broke the seal on a 13-yard touchdown pass from Hornets quarterback Jackson Panice at 5:14 of the first quarter, scores came at a dizzying rate.

Hinsdale South gained 20 first downs and 421 yards of offense while the Spartans earned 21 first downs and 408 yards. Romeoville's Josh Griffin ran 19 times for 149 yards.

It seemed Hinsdale South's game after Ryan Johnson made the first of his 2 interceptions then Williams bellied left and turned the corner for his 44-yard touchdown. Nick Sarocco's kick had the Hornets up 14-0 at 3:43 of the first.

There was no give-up in Romeoville, which went ahead 18-14 at 5:16 of the second quarter, that final touchdown on Griffin's 1-yard run after a Nick Samuelson interception and 21-yard return to the doorstep.

Panice responded. After three prior misses on open fly routes he found Chris Chacko behind coverage for a 70-yard touchdown pass and a 21-18 halftime lead.

"After I threw that pick I knew I couldn't let my teammates down," Panice said.

Hinsdale South closed the third quarter leading 34-18 on Williams' 6-yard touchdown run and a 4-yard run by Davis, so excited he spiked the ball.

There were many happy Hornets.

"It's awesome," said Johnson, who had his 2 interceptions plus a 14-yard pass reception on fourth-and-10 to continue a scoring drive.

"It's definitely great to get a win on this field."