West Holmes rolls behind Williams-Dixon’s 7 scores
West Holmes’ Sam Williams-Dixon scored a single-game school record seven touchdowns in a 56-21 Division IV regional quarterfinal win over St. Marys Memorial at Knights Stadium on Nov. 4.
Sam Williams-Dixon’s impact on a football game sometimes goes unnoticed.
Opposing defenses pay special attention to the West Holmes junior running back, which provides opportunities for his teammates to get open and score touchdowns.
It was his turn to shine against St. Marys Memorial on Nov. 4.
Williams-Dixon scored a single-game school record seven touchdowns to lead the Knights to a 56-21 win in a Division IV regional quarterfinal at Knights Stadium.
West Holmes (12-0) advanced to play Van Wert (11-1) — a 29-22 second-round winner over Perkins — at 7 p.m. Nov. 12 at Harding Stadium in Marion.
Williams-Dixon rushed for five touchdowns and 200 yards on 12 carries, caught one pass for a 32-yard score and returned a kickoff 85 yards for a touchdown. His seven total touchdowns were one more than the previous record of six, set by Shane Jones in 2018.
Williams-Dixon’s five rushing touchdowns tied the single-game program record. He previously tied that record earlier this season in a win over Ashland.
“I knew I had to bring up the attention this week,” he said. “I’ve been kept in the garage all the time. It was time to take the G-Wagon out the garage this week.”
His kickoff return for a touchdown came at a critical time for the Knights. St. Marys (9-3) had just tied the score at 21-all with just under two minutes left until halftime and was starting to gain some momentum.
That was all erased by his touchdown.
“We were going left return,” Williams-Dixon said. “I saw everybody come left, and there was nothing in the middle, so I just went up the middle and followed my blocks by Zevin Proper, and he led me to the end zone.”
West Holmes then decided to do an onside kick and recovered it. Williams-Dixon scored from 8 yards out — his fourth touchdown of the half — a few plays later, and the Knights suddenly led 34-21 with 40 seconds left until halftime.
“Coach Matt Torgler puts a lot of pride in our special teams,” West Holmes coach Zach Gardner said. “When he says (the potential for an onside kick recovery) is there, we trust him. It was there. What a big momentum switch in the game.
“I thought that was the major turning point in the game.”
West Holmes got the ball to start the second half and quickly scored to take a 41-21 lead. The Knights tacked on two more touchdowns later in the half, ushering in a running clock for the 12th consecutive game.
Williams-Dixon and his offensive teammates set the tone from the opening whistle, as he broke off a 65-yard touchdown run on the Knights’ first offensive play of the game. Their first-team offense scored a touchdown on all eight of their possessions, finishing with 406 yards of total offense and averaging 12.3 yards per play.
West Holmes quarterback Mason Wolfe was an efficient 11-of-12 passing for 165 yards and two touchdowns. Nate Fair caught four balls for a game-high 96 yards and a score, while Kyle Maltarich snagged three passes for 30 yards and had an interception on defense.
St. Marys had a ton of success with its rushing attack in the first half. Primarily using a Wing-T and full house backfield, the Roughriders churned out 231 yards and three touchdowns on the ground in the first 24 minutes.
The second half was a much different story, though. St. Marys managed just 66 yards on 18 carries, as the Knights stepped up their physicality in the second half and made the Roughriders work for every yard they gained.
The biggest key to their second-half defensive dominance was shutting down St. Marys fullback Aiden Hinkle, who came into the game averaging around 140 yards rushing. He gashed West Holmes up the middle in the first half, running for 135 yards and two touchdowns on 14 carries, but gained just 8 yards on seven second-half totes.
Gardner said they didn’t change anything schematically at halftime. It all came down to an “attitude adjustment.”
“It basically came down to (my players) doing what they were coached to do,” he said. “We were getting a little too deep (in the first half). I think there was a little bit of adjustment (facing that type of offense). Playing them is like what it used to be like in the 1990s when you played a spread team and had to adjust everything you do and get out of your normal personnel.
“I’m proud of the way the kids adapted, and I’m proud of the way they came out and out-physicaled them in the second half.”