SYCAMORE - Give Wynford senior Adam Hartz a couple inches and he'll take 109 yards.
And a couple touchdowns.
Two quick-strike passes from Brock Williamson to Hartz in a two-minute span to close the first half made a huge difference as the Royals downed Mohawk 34-13 at Warrior Field Friday night.
The win was Wynford's 60th straight in regular season play, the last loss coming at the hands of the Warriors back in 2006.
"That's what they tell me," first-year coach Gabe Helbert said of the streak. "I'm sure our kids are aware of it. I just want us to continue getting better each and every week."
The 1-1 Warriors were very much in the hunt until their fortunes turned midway through the second quarter.
It was a 6-6 game before Williamson scored from a yard out to finish seven-play, 57-yard drive to put the Royals on top for good.
After the Warriors went three-and-out, Williamson and Hartz went to work.
First, Williamson hit Hartz on a quick out for what might have been a 5-yard gain. But the senior receiver put on a quick pivot move and spun to the outside for 55-yard touchdown. Williamson's pass to Deric Skidmore made it 20-6 with 3:37 left in the half.
Helbert tried to save clock with a couple timeout calls in the hope of forcing a Warrior punt. But Drew Loose hit Mitch Parker for 12 yards for one first down and Mohawk picked up another on an encroachment penalty.
On the next play, Warrior coach Erik Baker hoped to induce another Royal error with a little trickery, but Wynford's Tyler Baumberger intercepted sophomore Gunnar Johnson's halfback pass.
Williamson then sent Hartz deep and hit him for a 64-yard touchdown and a 28-6 halftime lead.
"Adam is a playmaker; he has the ability to get open," Helbert said. "He understands coverage. He understands where the weak spots are and at the same time, he has the ability to make plays after the catch. That was kind of the key for us tonight. He made that big, huge play and it got us going."
By night's end, Williamson and Hartz had worked the Warriors for four completions and 139 yards.
"If we didn't have to play them, I love watching their film," Baker said in praise of the Royals. "They are so sound. They do a lot without it being overkill.
"You see this formation and they're going to run this and this and this. It's not like they're going to run something you don't know, but they run it really, really well," he said. "They hit something big when somebody's a step out of position. That's all the window they need."
Wynford took a 6-0 lead by rolling 67 yards in seven plays off the opening kick. Corey Brown's 1-yard smash provided the score with 9:11 left in the quarter.
The Warriors countered with a 66-yard drive but turned the ball over on downs at the Royal 3.
Still, that was a set-up for a game-tying score, thanks to Tyler Krupp's recovery of a Williamson fumble at the Wynford 19.
Loose and Parker hooked up on seven passes for 103 yards and a second-half touchdown. But it was their much less conventional connection that tied the game.
Loose ran 6 yards before losing control of the ball at the goal line. It bounced into the end zone but Parker was there to recover with 43 seconds left in the quarter.
Aside from a single incomplete pass, the Royals went strictly with the ground game in the second half. Brown, who led Wynford with 112 yards on eight carries, ripped off a 52-yard gain to set up Gage Roe's 5-yard scoring run.
Mohawk matched that on its final possession with a 97-yard drive. Loose's 30-yard pass to Parker provided the score.
"We're really trying to be process-oriented," Baker said. "There were some things that we really didn't do very well last week that we actually improved on this week.
"Our pass protection, against a much tougher opponent, was much better this week," he said. "Defensively, we still have some things we need to work on.
"It's not a heart thing - they want to make the tackles," he said. "It's a matter of space and angles and those are things we can fix."
Wynford 34, Mohawk 13
Wynford 62260 - 34
Mohawk6 007 - 13
First Quarter
W - Corey Brown 9 run (kick failed), 9:11
M - Mitch Parker recovered fumbled in end zone (run failed), :43.5
Second Quarter
W - Brock Williamson 1 run (pass failed), 6:01
W - Adam Hartz 55 pass from Williamson (Deric Skidmore pass from Williamson), 2:06
W - Hartz 64 pass from Williamson (Brown run), 1:36
Third Quarter
W - Gage Roe 5 run (pass failed), 3:13
Fourth Quarter
M - Parker 30 pass from Drew Loose (Joe Godinez kick), 1:25
WynMoh
First downs1716
Rushes-yards40-29445-120
Passing yards151141
Comp-att-int5-7-011-22-2
Punts-ave. 1-354-34.5
Fumbles-lost3-20-0
Penalties-yards4-241-5
Individual statistics
RUSHING: Wynford - Brown 8-112, Williamson 11-80, Roe 8-40, Levi Schafer 7-34, Hayden Rhoades 5-30, Keaton Teynor 1-(minus-2). Mohawk - Loose 15-49, Grant Price 12-32, Gunnar Johnson 8-18, Grant Ekleberry 5-18, Logan Stillberger 4-2, Parker 1-1.
PASSING: Wynford - Williamson 5-7-151-0. Mohawk - Loose 11-21-141-1, Johnson 0-1-0-1.
RECEIVING: Wynford - Hartz 4-139, Evan Snode 1-12. Mohawk - Parker 7-103, Johnson 1-20, Stillberrger 1-11, Hunter Fitschen 1-5, Price 1-
