Crystal River, Fla. — The Villages High School football team broke through on offense in a big way Friday night in Crystal River.

A balanced Buffalo attack scored touchdowns on five of its six possessions and tallied 356 yards in a rebound from a shutout loss its last time out, as VHS rolled to a 35-14 road victory over Crystal River at Bramlett Stadium.

Senior fullback Maleek Williams rushed for 130 yards and two touchdowns and sophomore receiver Omari Hill also found the end zone twice, as The Villages (4-2 overall) picked up the win in its first action in two weeks following a postponement after the passing of Hurricane Helene.

"All the credit goes to our kids," said VHS head coach Richard Pettus. "We had a really good week of practice and they were focused all week long. We had a tough (loss) our last time out and then not playing a week because of the storm, I just felt like we really needed a win tonight. I think our kids and our coaches realized that, too, and I'm proud of everyone that we were able to get the job done."

After the two teams traded turnovers on downs to start the contest, the Buffalo got on the board with a seven-play scoring drive. The series was capped by a tremendous individual effort from Williams, who bounced off a pair of potential tacklers and used a second-effort surge to fight his way into the end zone for a 7-0 lead just a minute into the second quarter.

Crystal River (3-3) evened the score at 7-7 with five minutes to play in the first half, despite a valiant goal-line stand from the VHS defense. On fourth-and-goal from the 1, the Buffalo defense appeared to stop Pirates tailback Kyle Loderbauer short of the end zone, but the officials conferred amid a scrum of players and awarded the Pirates a touchdown to tie the game.

The Buffalo marched right back down the field for a 14-7 halftime lead, however, as junior Jeremiah Wimes put the finishing touches on an eight-play scoring drive with a 5-yard touchdown run.

VHS then extended its lead coming out of the intermission with a momentous first series of the second half, as a run-heavy possession led to a 7-yard touchdown run by Williams — the second of the night and his seventh this season — to make it 21-7.

"When we punched it in there to start the third quarter, you could really see our confidence go up," Pettus said. "We proved we were able to move the ball and score points. A lot of that (drive) is because of what we were doing upfront with our offensive line, an area we've struggled this year, so that was really good to see."

The Pirates halved their deficit to 21-14 with :10 seconds remaining in the third quarter when Jesse Paul scored on a 1-yard quarterback keeper, before VHS struck for its longest play of the season to extend its lead once more.

Sophomore quarterback Ja'dence Kennedy pumped a fake toward Hill on the left of the formation, who ran a stop-and-go route to fool Crystal River cornerback Lane Stringer into running out of position, with Hill eventually streaking past him down the field. Kennedy floated a nearly perfect throw to Hill and he sprinted into the end zone, cashing in on a 70-yard touchdown pass for a 28-14 lead with 11:15 remaining.

The touchdown was especially welcome for Hill, who fumbled away another long touchdown two weeks ago into the end zone — resulting in a touchback — during a 22-0 loss to Tavares back on Sept. 21.

"That (fumble) drove me to do everything I could to make up for it, and I definitely had a little bit of a chip on my shoulder because of it tonight," Hill said. "I'm proud of our offensive line giving our quarterback time to throw, he put it right on the money, and all I had to do was use my speed to make a play."

The Buffalo defense forced a quick punt — the only one of the night — on the ensuing Crystal River possession, with Hill once again finding himself in the end zone with the ball in his hands. Facing a third-and-goal from the 7, senior tight end Jon-Jon Harding took a direct snap but was hit and fumbled at the 1, before Hill pounced on the loose ball in the end zone for a touchdown and the night's final margin.

"All we really needed was some confidence on offense," Hill said of the five-touchdown night for the Buffalo. "We needed a spark and Maleek (Williams) gave it to us early with his hard run for the touchdown, and that really drove us and gave us the boost we needed to prove to ourselves that we could do it."

Hill finished with a career-high 89 yards receiving on three catches, while Kennedy completed 11-of-15 passes for 191 yards and the long touchdown toss. 

VHS will now turn its attention to Class 2A-District 6 play, as they hit the road to Titusville next Friday night to take on Astronaut (5-2).

"We've never played them and we don't know much about them, but we do know that we have to be ready to go," Pettus said. "If you have any chance at the playoffs, you have to win your district games. It's going to take the same kind of effort and preparation next week that we had this week, for sure."



SCORING SUMMARY
The Villages 35, Crystal River 14
The Villages    0    14    7    14 — 35
Crystal River    0    7    7    0 — 14
First Quarter
No scoring
Second Quarter
V: Williams 3 run (Powell kick), 10:46
C: Loderbauer 1 run (Stringer kick), 5:00
V: Wimes 5 run (Powell kick), 1:45
Third Quarter
V: Williams 7 run (Powell kick), 7:31
C: Paul 1 run (Stringer kick), :10
Fourth Quarter
V: Hill 70 pass from Kennedy (Powell kick), 11:15
V: Hill 1 fumble recovery (Powell kick), 4:06



Cody Hills can be reached for questions or comment at cody.hills@tvcs.org or by calling (352) 259-6890.