San Diego High School Player of the Week : This Time Around, Things Go Anthony Williams’ Way

SPRING VALLEY —  Anthony Williams has a scar that starts a few inches below his elbow and ends a few inches short of his wrist.

For Williams, a running back for the second-ranked Mount Miguel football team, the scar is a reminder of last season. One he would rather forget.

Mount Miguel ran an option play that called for Williams to throw the football in a Grossmont League 3-A game against Granite Hills last season. Williams threw the ball and was hit by several Granite Hills defenders. As he fell backward, he tried to break his fall with his right arm.

Snap.

Williams was taken off the field with a compound fracture that ended his year with four regular-season games remaining. But more discomfiting for Williams was the fact that he missed two playoff games, including a 34-27 loss to Fallbrook in the semifinals.

This season, Williams stayed healthy, and he played his finest game of the year in a rematch against Fallbrook in the section quarterfinals Saturday night.

Williams, who rushed for 261 yards and 3 touchdowns in 18 carries in a 35-0 victory, is The Times’ player of the week.

“The holes were there and I put on the speed,” he said of the game in which he had touchdown runs of 36, 95 and 3 yards. The 3-yard score was set up by his 73-yard run two plays earlier.

It was Williams’ 95-yard touchdown run that put Fallbrook’s attempt at a second straight section title out of reach. Fallbrook had Mount Miguel pinned on its five-yard line and facing a third and 11. Williams turned the left corner and raced down the sideline for the score. The touchdown and extra point gave Mount Miguel a 28-0 lead on its fourth drive of the game.

This time against Fallbrook, Williams was just happy to be able to take the field rather than stand on the sidelines.

“I was wishing I was out there to play with them,” he said of last season’s game. “I felt really bad. I was almost ready to cry. I love this game so much.”

Williams grew up in Houston. He said when he was 5 he would play football with older kids. When he was a couple years older, Williams would play in games against his uncles and cousins. He has a cousin playing at Louisiana State and another at Oklahoma State.

“I have some uncles and friends who told me I would get hit hard and I’d start crying,” Williams said. “They’d pick me up and I’d start playing again.”

Williams moved to San Diego after playing ninth-grade football at Westfield High School in Houston. He first attended Crawford, then moved into the Hoover district. Last season, he moved to the Mount Miguel area, where he found a home in the Matador backfield.

Williams made a promise to himself while standing on the sidelines last season.

“I’d come to watch the team play and felt sad,” he said. “I said I’d work hard this year to be better.”

Anthony Williams

Mount Miguel

High School

Position: Running back.

Height, Weight, Class: 5-8, 160, Sr.

Last Week: Williams rushed for 261 yards and 3 touchdowns in 18 carries in Mount Miguel’s 35-0 victory over Fallbrook in the San Diego Section 3-A quarterfinals.