PW Senior Receiver Survived A Winless Season

Kenny Williams’ initial recollections of his first high school experiences were good. He had a chance to start his freshman year at cornerback for Plymouth Whitemarsh, and the Colonials were playing well in scrimmages.

Then reality hit.

The 5-foot-9, 170-pound wide receiver/defensive back started throughout his freshman year at. But a young team suffered a wealth of injuries and it happened to be the worst season in the history of Plymouth Whitemarsh football, when the Colonials went 0-11.

So excuse Williams if he has a greater appreciation for this season than most of his teammates. He knows what it was like to lose every game. He’s watched how the program has evolved from rock bottom to climbing up the rungs of the Suburban One League.

“My message to my teammates is to keep working hard and good things will happen,” said Williams, who scored five touchdowns and picked up roughly 300 yards receiving his junior season. “We have high expectations this year. I learned to deal with adversity from my freshman year."

Gradually, the Colonials went 3-8 his sophomore season, 6-5 last year and who knows what could happen this season. Possibly many good things. Plymouth Whitemarsh has a lot back from a talented team, which features Williams, the Colonials’ leading receiver, quarterback Russhon Phillips, top tailback Xavier Ellington and receiver Alton Custus.

Williams has experienced losing. Now it’s time to win.

“It can’t get any worse than that," he said. "That was a learning experience for me. My mom would stay on me about keeping a straight head, because I was never used to losing like that. I just kept playing hard and having fun. I had three more years to play, and focused on becoming a better player. The first part of learning how to win is learning how to lose. We became more of a team throughout the years.”

Williams and his teammates had to consume a whole new offense last season, which focused more on running than passing. The option offense put the ball in Phillips’ hands more often, and used Ellington’s explosive speed on the edge.

“I wasn’t happy at first, but once I got used to Coach [Dan] Chang, I became happy,” he said. “He’s a good coach and he’s helped us turn things around. With defenses keying on Russhon and Xavier, that could open things up for me. We can come at teams in a lot of different ways and I think that will help us. We’ll still be a run-first team, but I think we’ll be passing more.”

Williams is receiving attention from Division II schools like Shippensburg, East Stroudsburg and West Chester. Williams plans on playing college football, and he plans on catching college recruiter’s eyes on offense and defense.

A converted running back, Williams played receiver for the first time last season. But it’s defense where Williams can gain some quality attention. He’s averaged 100 tackles his sophomore and junior years.

“Our whole defense is coming back, so I think we’re going to be pretty good,” Williams said. “I want to leave Plymouth Whitemarsh as a winner, because I know what it was liking coming in losing. It’s up to us how long our season is going to be.”