Braddock Cates, Williamsville football hum in Sangamo win over Athens

(This story was updated to add new information.)

ATHENS — Braddock Cates bolted out of the gates with a touchdown run in the opening two minutes and the Williamsville football team coasted to a 52-6 Sangamo Conference win over Athens on Friday.

Cates supplied the first two touchdowns in the first quarter and racked up 177 total yards of offense. He finished with 14 carries for 127 yards and three scores. He also had three catches for 50 yards.

"I think we're moving in a really good direction and a really good pace," Cates said. "The first few weeks, it wasn't bad. It's never been bad. I think we're really starting to pick it up. I think we're on a really good track right now."

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The Bullets (5-1, 5-0 Sangamo) amassed 385 rushing yards as a team. Senior tailback Gage Paul's 91-yard TD burst and Will Zinn drilled a 27-yard field goal created a 24-6 halftime lead. Paul ended with 113 rushing yards on just two carries.

Junior quarterback Jackson Sanders also kept the offense humming. He went 9-for-11 for 117 yards and one TD in addition to 22 rushing yards. Senior tight end Carson Beattie had the TD catch to go along with a sack defensively.

Athens (2-4, 2-4) pared the early deficit to one possession on Talon DiGiovanna's 9-yard scoring run. Athens also recovered a fumbled snap to begin the third quarter but couldn't capitalize. Williamsville subsequently scored on its next four possessions.

"I think kind of a big turning point for us was after we fumbled to start the second half and we got them to go four-and-out," Williamsville coach Aaron Kunz said. "I thought that was huge and we rolled from there. I felt all season we have a lot of playmakers and tonight we really did a good job of distributing the ball to them."

Junior running back Gage Honn led Athens with 59 rushing yards but left the field at the start of the second half due to injury. Brodee Rector had 50 rushing yards.

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Braddock Cates, Williamsville football hum in Sangamo win over Athens