ST. JOHNS — Tommy Pratt and the Williamston football team didn’t just have goals of surpassing their 2024 win total of three this fall.
The Hornets also wanted to contend for a CAAC Red championship.
Williamston has put itself in a position to do that heading into the back half of the regular season. And its defense has been among the reasons why.
The Hornets recorded their third straight shutout with a 43-0 victory over St. Johns in a matchup of unbeatens on Friday, Sept. 26.
“It’s really a determination thing,” said Pratt, who contributed to the Hornets forcing three turnovers against St. Johns with his interception late in the second quarter that ended the Redwings’ best scoring threat. “In the end, holding a zero up there — it’s just something we work towards every week.”
With its latest shutout, Williamston has outscored opponents 188-43 through five games. That includes outscoring CAAC Red opponents, 106-0, entering a Week 6 first-place showdown against rival Haslett.
“It all goes to practice,” Williamston senior Miles Keener said of the defensive success. “Our Wednesday practices are offense and defensive day and there’s almost fights going on. We’re getting after each other. Our scout team does a great job. It’s all of our starting linemen. We’re just getting after each other and we’re just going hard every week in practice every day.”
Williamston began its shutout streak with a 28-0 road win over reigning CAAC Red champion Mason before following with a 35-0 victory at home over Fowlerville in Week 4. The Hornets successfully stopped Mason in 6-of-7 third-down situations in that shutout win. Against Fowlerville, Williamston forced two turnovers and got stops on 10-of-12 third-down plays.
Pratt said this season has been like a revenge tour of sorts for the Hornets, who avenged losses from last season by multiple scores to Mason and St. Johns with their dominant wins. Williamton will have an opportunity to avenge its other CAAC Red loss from last season when it faces Haslett.
“Having three shutouts in the Red in a row — our motto this year is to burn down the Red and we’ve done it so far,” Pratt said. “Three in a row and we’ve got next week (at) Haslett. We’ve got something to prove.”
Williamston coach Steve Kersten said that mission to prove themselves has fueled what his team has done on defense so far this fall.
“They are very serious about doing everything really well,” Kersten said. “They’re competitors, that’s what it is. They’re competitive people and they don’t want to lose and they don’t want to get scored on and they don’t want to give up a first down. You put that together and good things really happen.”
Contact Brian Calloway at bcalloway@lsj.com. Follow him on X @brian_calloway and Bluesky @briancalloway.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Williamston football getting boost from defense in perfect start
Reporting by Brian Calloway, Lansing State Journal / Lansing State Journal
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