Defensive Player of the Week: Lindale’s Airik Williams

Published 1:33 am Monday, September 14, 2020

Airik Williams had a performance in a quarter that most players would dream about for an entire season.

The Lindale senior free safety had three interceptions in the second period on Friday to help his Eagles get out to a big lead and eventually defeat rival Van, 33-28, at Lindale’s Eagle Stadium.

For his efforts, Williams was named the Defensive Player of the Week for the third week of the high school football season.

Along with his three interceptions, Williams had seven tackles (2 solo), a tackle for loss and 131 interception return yards.

It was quite a second quarter.

First, Van quarterback Jackson Rainey ran 64 yards before being tackled at the 1 by DJ Walton. After a false start penalty, Williams picked off Rainey’s pass attempt toward the end zone and returned it into Van territory. Two plays later, Eagle QB Sam Peterson connected with Jordan Jenkins for a 31-yard touchdown to put the Eagles up 14-7 with 7:16 left in the half.

Williams came through with another interception on the next drive at the Lindale 26. A 39-yard pass from Peterson to Jacob Seekford set up a 1-yard touchdown run by Jenkins to give the Eagles a 20-7 lead with 1:47 on the clock after the extra point was blocked by Manny Moore.

Van got back into Lindale territory late in the quarter, but Williams was in the right place once again and intercepted a pass and took it back 62 yards to the end zone with 11 seconds on the clock to give the Eagles a 27-7 halftime advantage.

Williams will be featured on a poster in Friday’s The Zone special section of the Tyler Morning Telegraph.

Previous winners of the Defensive Player of the Week Award were — Week 1: John Engle, Bullard; Week 2: Jordan Ford, Chapel Hill.

Fans can see Williams and his Eagles in action on Friday when Lindale plays at Gilmer.

To nominate someone for the Defensive Player of the Week, email sports@tylerpaper.com by noon Monday.