Abbeville's Zalen Williams has career game in win

Zaylun Williams had a career game for the Abbeville Wildcats.
Williams, who wears No. 32 for the now 2-1 Wildcats, was a big reason Abbeville beat the Class 4A North Vermilion Patriots 22-18 on Friday.
Williams had only seven carries and rushed for 75 yards. But those seven carries were the biggest carries of the night.
Three of his seven carries were for touchdowns. He had two 1-yard TD runs and then a 17-yard TD run.
But the most significant carry of the game was his final.
On third down and 11 yards away from a first down with less than a minute to play in the game, Williams broke three tackles, hustled for 22 yards and made the first down, keeping the ball out of North Vermilion’s hands for the final 45 seconds.
“I am just a solid guy,” said Williams. “After contact, they can not bring me down.”
On the big third down play, Abbeville head coach Roderick Moy called “32 Veer.” Williams’ jersey number is 32.
“When I heard the play call, I got excited,” he said. “I knew it was game-over. We needed the first down, so I wanted the ball. I told our quarterback (Da’Zavien Maze), do not pull the ball, let me get it. Let’s go win the game.”
Williams realized he had made the first down when he heard the AHS crowd celebrating.
On third down and 11, Moy knew who was getting the football.
“I trust No. 32. When I needed some yards and go down and win the game, I wanted the ball to be in his hands,” Moy said. “Right there on third down, when no one thought we were going to get it, he goes for 20 yards and secures the victory.”
The Wildcats jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first half behind its running game.
Williams scored both touchdowns. He also played linebacker on defense and made a critical play that led to Abbeville’s second touchdown. He stopped a North Vermilion runner, pulled the football from his hands, and ran 17 yards toward the goal line. NV quarterback Logan Thompson saved the touchdown by tackling Williams. He was tackled on NV 9, and three plays later, Williams was in the end zone. He also converted the two-point play for a 14-0 lead.
At halftime, the Wildcats had 89 yards of offense, and the Patriots had 46.
“We beat a good team,” said Williams. “We scored only 12 points against them last year, and we were better than that. We wanted to score more than 12, and we did.”
Williams scored 20 of those 22 points.
AHS will be at home Friday for a homecoming game against Beau Chene.