Football: Williams, Bonner defense swarm Neumann-Goretti for PCL Blue lead

PHILADELPHIA — Mylachi Williams is a freakish athlete with untapped potential. The Bonner & Prendergast junior causes quarterbacks to run for cover.

Neumann-Goretti’s Mekhi Wharton discovered how difficult it is to evade Williams’ pass rush.

A 6-5, 200-pound defensive end was a disruptive force Saturday. He had multiple strip sacks and tackles for loss to spearhead a valiant defensive effort by the Friars in their 26-14 victory at the South Philadelphia Supersite.

“Our pass rush is really good,” Williams said. “I’ve done a lot of wind sprints and worked with my friends who are also linemen, and did a lot of work on my hand movement. Stuff like that.”

Whatever he’s doing, it’s working. Williams entered the day with three sacks, three pass deflections and an interception. He’s an athletic presence that offensive lines must always account for.

“Mylachi played really well, which I loved to see,” coach Jack Muldoon said. “We have some young kids who are finally starting to play football every week now and getting better and better. … We have a pretty good defense. We’ve played some good teams and some are struggling a little bit, but we knew this would be our toughest challenge.”

By beating the Saints, Bonner & Prendie (5-1, 4-0) took sole possession of first place in the Catholic League Blue Division with three weeks to go in the regular season. The Friars hadn’t beaten the Saints since 2016, Muldoon’s first season as head coach.

“We had to get past them to get where we want to be,” Williams said.

Bonner’s defense set the tone with two first-half turnovers returned for touchdowns. Isaiah Session scooped up a fumble and sprinted 55 yards to the end zone two minutes in. In the second quarter Jaylen Johnson intercepted Wharton and darted 43 yards to give the Friars a 12-0 lead.

“Our sideline was electrifying. It got to the point where our coaches were yelling at everyone to settle down,” senior linebacker Zach Coneys said. “Everyone was excited. I think the main thing is that everyone on the field has to keep their cool.”

Coneys made a highlight reel catch in the corner of the end zone in the fourth quarter to put the game out of reach. The wide receiver dove to haul in a 12-yard pass from Colin Finnegan, who also connected with Austin Cannon on a 17-yard TD in the third quarter.

“It’s a lot of fun getting those jump balls,” Coneys said. “The main thing was it was a great throw. Just about the perfect throw from Finn.”

The Friars wanted to keep Saints running back Shawn Battle from breaking the game open. While he accounted for both N-G scores, he didn’t have a huge impact.

“We knew No. 5 (Battle) liked to jump around and we knew he was going to try to find holes and get outside or find that backside power hole. Our coaches were telling us to stay home, stay home,” Coneys said. “Coach Coop (defensive coordinator Kairi Cooper) said that once the ball is in his hands, everyone run to him. We all had the emphasis to swarm him and then with the pass rush we knew their offensive linemen were a little bit bigger, but not the fastest. We tried to use our speed to have success and Mylachi did very well.”