The Williams Field Black Hawks remain undefeated in their section as they dominated the Mesquite Wildcats in a Class 5A San Tan Region game Friday 45-18.

With home-field advantage and screaming fans on their side, the Black Hawks picked up their running game and outscored the Wildcats 24-6 in the final two quarters.

“We slowed the game down a little bit to gain control, then before halftime we started to pick it up again,” Williams Field running back Jaden Thompson said. “Our offensive line got it together, then everything fell into place.”

The Black Hawks (7-2 overall, 3-0 region) came off of three strong wins looking to continue their winning streak before playoffs, and they did.

Unfortunately, the Wildcats failed to improve their record after a promising start.

The Wildcats (3-6 overall, 1-2 section) began the game with an onside kick, and recovered it on the Black Hawks’ 41-yard line. They quickly scored on the next play with a run by senior Deandre Kelsey.

The Wildcats ran with their momentum against last year’s Class 5A champs and led 9-0 after the first quarter. To begin the second quarter, the Wildcats continued moving the ball.

With just a few catches, Kelsey put the team on his back and pushed them down field. After a quick 12-yard catch and run, Kelsey was hit hard and taken out of the game.

Without their strongest offensive threat, the Wildcats fell apart and failed to gain any momentum after the injury.

“Deandre is one of our biggest leaders, and not having him out on the field really hurt us,” Mesquite defensive back, Billy Seitz said. “Instead of picking it up, it just went downhill.”

The injury that broke the momentum of Mesquite built up momentum for the Black Hawks.

Williams Field could sense the deflation in the Wildcats and used that to its advantage as it finally put some points on the board. The Black Hawks turned up the heat and scored three touchdowns before the end of the half.

Williams Field led Mesquite 21-12.

The momentum continued for them at the start of the third quarter.

“Coach told us we needed to slow things down in order to keep working our way up,” Thompson said about Coach Campbell’s halftime talk. “As long as the pace stayed where we wanted, we knew we could win the game.”

That they did. The Black Hawks picked apart the Wildcat defense and continued to scored drive after drive.

The Mesquite defense could not catch a break.

“I don’t know what happened,” Setiz said. “We just fell apart. Our defense needs to put this game behind us and improve for our big game next week.”

Next week the Wildcats move on to play against another region rival, Campo Verde at Campo Friday night.

“We know what we have to do next week in order to be successful,” Mesquite linebacker Trevor Coates said. “We can’t let this game get to our heads. They’re our biggest rival so it is a must win for us.”

Williams Field will go against the Queen Creek Bulldogs in a region matchup Friday at Queen Creek.