Woodbridge completes another 10-0 regular season

De'Antwan "Rocket" Williams terrorized defenses in the Cardinal District for four years as a Woodbridge running back through last season.

Williams was honored—in absentia—at halftime of Friday night's season finale with Gar-Field as part of the Great American Rivalry Series.

Perhaps in fitting fashion, Williams' heir apparent presented himself with a spectacular performance with freshman Jaylen Avent running for 238 yards and three touchdowns to clinch the Vikings' second consecutive district title and 10-0 season with a 35-16 win over cross-town rival Indians.

In fact, Avent showed Rocket-like moves and speed throughout the game, but particularly his scoring of a combined 159 yards alone.

"I had to take a second look to see if that was [uniform No.] 34 or 22," Woodbridge interim head coach Kevin Smith said. "That last run of his [for 61 yards] on the draw play to the weak side he broke three or four tackles. He showed his durability there. "I don't know if you can replace a Rocket, but Jaylen's pretty darn good. He broke a lot of tackles."

Woodbridge (6-0 Cardinal District) locked up the second seed and a first round bye in the Northwest Region Division 6 playoffs with the victory. The first round begins next Friday.

Avent, named MVP as part of the Great American Rivalry Series festivities, took over as the feature tailback after shoulder injuries claimed both Darius Parsons and Zayd Hamilton recently. The first-year player could make Smith's decision at starting running back for the postseason an easy one.

"I just wanted to redeem myself from last week," said Avent, who has 786 yards on the ground and five touchdowns for the year. He ran for 109 yards in a 9-3 win over Osbourn Park a week ago. "I had to step up to the challenge. I've been working hard."

Gar-Field (6-4, 4-2) had no answer for Avent and fullback Michael Ford—32 yards on eight carries and a 26-yard reception—and Woodbridge kept pounding away with the ground game, all but abandoning its formidable aerial attack.

The Indians attempted to throw themselves back into contention in the second half with long passes from quarterback Aaron Jackson to John Portee (90 on four) and Domonique Campbell (80 yards on two catches).

Campbell experienced the Woodbridge secondary first hand, however, when Collin Frazer introduced himself with one of the hardest hits on a receiver this year in the first half that broke up a potential big play.