Willowbrook wins third straight

Senior receiver and defensive back Hayden Adams scored three times to help Willowbrook win its third game in a row.

Adams had 2 receiving touchdowns — one for 76 yards and another off a 65-yard interception return as the Warriors knocked off the York Dukes 28-13 in Villa Park Friday night.

“He’s a player,” Willowbrook coach Nick Hildreth said. “Wherever you put him or whatever you ask him to do, he makes a play. He’s been doing that for two years, and he’s tough as nails.”

The night started slow for the Warriors. Unable to capitalize on their first two possessions in the first quarter, senior quarterback Brian Johnson lobbed a pass to Adams, who scampered 76 yards for the night’s first touchdown. Willowbrook (3-1) stalled the rest of the half, but York punched in a 6-yard run in the second quarter, courtesy of junior Tyler Muckian.

The game was knotted at 7 at the half, and York stymied the explosive Willowbrook offense by keeping Johnson and running back Jeremy Barnes contained.

“They have a lot of offensive weapons,” York coach Steve Nye said. “I thought we did a nice job on it. Defensively, we held them in check pretty much the whole game.”

“They did a good job of holding us down,” Hildreth said. “We couldn’t get the run game going. We could never really get things going.”

It was more of the same in the third quarter, as both teams traded possessions without scoring. Adams woke up the Warriors attack in the fourth with his second offensive touchdown, this time a 15-yard strike from Johnson, making it 14-7 with 11:40 left in the game. It was Adams again a minute later, picking off Dukes quarterback Charlie Rose and returning it 65 yards for a 21-7 advantage. The Dukes (2-2) scored late on a 3-yard run, but Johnson found senior Devin Childress for a 3-yard pass, sealing the game at 28-13 with 3:07 left.

“We made some mistakes — you just can’t turn the ball over late in the game,” Nye said. “They made plays in the fourth quarter when they had to make the plays.”