Naperville Central’s DeShaun Williams sure can catch. But Lyons can’t catch him in the state quarterfinals.

Naperville Central senior wide receiver DeShaun Williams can sum up his craft in one sentence.

It involves touchdowns.

“Me and my mom came up with a phrase: ‘See ball, catch ball, take it to the end zone,’” Williams said.

Williams did that on each of Naperville Central’s first two possessions against Lyons on Friday night, scoring on receptions of 50 yards and 42 yards.

That set the tone for the seventh-seeded Redhawks, who eliminated the previously unbeaten second-seeded Lions 24-7 in the Class 8A state quarterfinals in Western Springs.

Naperville Central (11-1) will host 14th-seeded York (10-2) at Memorial Stadium on Nov. 23 in its first semifinal appearance since winning the 2013 state championship.

Williams, an Indiana State commit, didn’t see many targets early in the season as the Redhawks played conservatively with senior quarterback Sebastian Hayes, a first-year starter. But Williams’ time came against the Lions (11-1), who were geared up to stop senior running back Aiden Clark.

“It was going to take us some time to get Sebi comfortable, and the best thing about DeShaun is he has not complained once, never mentioned a word about us throwing the ball more,” Naperville Central coach Mike Ulreich said. “He’s an unbelievable team player. He is so valuable to what we do.”

That value shone through early and often against the Lions, who bit on two play-action passes and were burned both times.

The first came at the 4:16 mark of the first quarter, when Hayes threw the ball over the top. Three Lyons defenders were chasing Williams like he was the pied piper, and they didn’t catch him even though the pass wasn’t perfect. Williams had to stretch forward to bat the ball up in the air before hauling it in and taking it to the end zone for the 50-yard touchdown.

“I was just focused on the ball,” he said. “It was instinct. My hand just came out and tipped the ball back to myself to make sure I could secure it. Then I just made sure no one caught me.”

Hayes and Williams used the same play to connect again on the next series. This time it was a 42-yard score that helped stake the Redhawks to a 14-0 lead with 5:35 left in the second quarter.

“Sebi saw me, he saw the safety come down and threw a perfect ball,” Williams said. “I just did the rest.

“We work that all the time in practice. We knew the safeties would come down, look at the quarterback, and we just ran by them.”

Hayes, who completed 14 of 18 passes for 159 yards, is steadily gaining confidence, and Williams is one reason.

“DeShaun is a beast,” Hayes said. “He’s big, physical, athletic, and he can run fast.

“Watching film, we knew what their tendencies were, and we knew what they were going to do. DeShaun did a great job of getting open and catching the ball and running it into the end zone.”

Williams finished with six catches for 127 yards, including a 14-yard gain for a first down on which he absorbed a huge hit on the opening drive of the second half. The Redhawks went 80 yards and took nearly eight minutes off the clock during that drive, which Hayes capped with a 1-yard run to finish the scoring.

“When the team needs me, I come up big,” Williams said. “I feel great, but I feel even better that the defense shut out their offense, and I’m so proud of the offense playing the best game that we’ve played in a while.”

Indeed, the Redhawks held the Lions to 188 yards of offense and limited senior wide receiver Travis Stamm, an Illinois state commit, to three catches for 10 yards. In the fourth quarter, senior linebacker Daniel Nussbaum had an interception, and senior defensive end Jake Stanish, a Buffalo recruit, recovered a fumble.

Naperville Central ran 52 offensive plays to the Lions’ 35, as Clark gained 109 tough yards on 34 carries. Williams even had a role in the running game.

“You should see him block on the perimeter,” Ulreich said. “I could put (together) a highlight film of him mauling people on the perimeter.”

Just two wins away from a state championship, the Redhawks know the road will get tougher. But Williams may be just getting going.

“He’s a great wide receiver,” Hayes said. “I think it will really click with us going into next week. Just having a big body like that in critical conditions is a lot of help.”

Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter.

Originally Published: November 16, 2024 at 12:17 AM CST