North beats Egan, 19-15

As of yesterday morning, the present David D. Williams received for his 18th birthday was not exactly one for the archives.

In fact, it was not even tangible.

"Sleep," he said.

His parents left him alone so he could rest as much as possible before North Catholic High was to host Conwell-Egan in a 1 o'clock Catholic AAA makeup at Northeast's Charlie Martin Memorial Stadium.

OK, no problem with that. But they didn't slip him a present before he strolled out the door.

"I think I'm getting a laptop," Williams said. "That's what I want, anyway. They said I'm not getting one, but I think they were just messing with me."

He laughed: "After this performance, I should get one, right?"

Along with lots of accolades.

North not only bested C-E, 19-15, but did so in rousing fashion with a hint of a goal-line stand in the final moments. We say "a hint" because the Eagles reached "only" as far as the 4 on second down before Williams and fellow linebacker Bob Butler combined to throw quarterback Anthony Singlar for a 1-yard loss.

"He's a good linebacker," Williams said of Butler. "A great one, really. He's the main part of our defense, to be honest with you."

The last play was a pass to Kerry McAnany just inside the end zone, at the left hash mark. It whizzed past everyone and the Falcons erupted in joy.

"I guess my birthday present was winning this game," Williams said.

The 5-11, 200-pound Williams - his middle name is Donald; there's also a David M. Williams, no relation, on the squad - is receiving interest from schools all the way from Division 1 (Temple) to III (Widener).

He slapped together a good game tape, finishing with 12 tackles. Four were notched behind the line. Delivered in ornery fashion, too.

"I've been a linebacker since the day I started playing football," Williams said. "I like to be physical. To knock people down. There's no other position where you can do that aside from linebacker...Well, I do play some fullback. Yup, get to do it there, too."

North experienced some go-backwards misadventures in the fourth quarter.

With 10 minutes, 51 seconds left, from North's 29, a snap sailed way over punter Stephen Rooney's head into the end zone. Rooney had trouble making a recovery and, just when an Eagle was perhaps about to do so for a touchdown, North's John Ziegler kicked the ball through the back end while executing a pop-up slide.

Soon, senior tailback Eugene "U-Turn" Byrd was making two tremendous quick-step moves on a 44-yard touchdown run that enabled the Falcons to erase a 15-12 deficit.

That dash lifted Byrd's yardage total from 210 to 254, enabling him to break the school one-game record of 220 set in 2006 by Daryl Robinson. Byrd's final numbers: 27 carries for 273 yards, three TDs.

"I missed a couple games earlier ," Byrd said, "but all season I've been focused on trying to beat Daryl's record."

With the school slated to close this June, barring any miracles, the mark will be his for eternity. The hogs for North, which operated out of a Wildcat set, were center Ray Reusher, guards Micale Allen and Matt Reidy and tackles Kerry Shields and Steven Noel.

C-E was given a tremendous shot at last-life when North quarterback Anthony Reid (8-11, 96 yards) bobbed and weaved for what seemed like a half-hour before firing the ball out of bounds to draw an intentional grounding call. The loss was 20 yards, plus a 5-yard penalty, placing the ball at the 26. Singlar's 5-yard punt return put the Eagles in business at the NC 44.

"They were comin.' I was scared. I thought maybe they were going to score," Williams said. "But our defense kept working. All 11 guys worked as one. It starts with trusting each other. We really came through."

C-E's TDs went to Singlar on a 4-yard run and to Ryan Bond on a sensational, 36-yard, off-his-hands, back-in-his-hands catch. Singlar accounted for 145 yards of rushing/passing.

Williams, who lives in Oxford Circle, wants to become a lawyer. Hmm, maybe he can figure out a way to prevent the archdiocese from shuttering his school.

"The first couple days were really rough," he said. "Everybody was sad. A lot of the teachers were getting emotional. Some have family members who attended the school. I just try to tell them that things will be all right.

"The way the football team feels, since this is our last year, we're going to make it the best."

Meanwhile, in case you're wondering, Williams received an Xbox 360 for his 17th birthday.

"My parents are good to me," he said. "That's why I think I'll get the laptop."