Cortaz, Renda shine for ND

PLAINSBORO >> Notre Dame running back Cortaz Williams continued his terrific season on Friday night against West Windsor-Plainsboro, showing off his talents in a four touchdown night to keep the Irish undefeated.

Williams rushed for two touchdowns, had a touchdown reception and added in an interception return for a score on defense as Notre Dame rolled to a 50-13 victory over WW-P.

“It was a great night,” Williams said. “We came out and executed. I couldn’t have done this without my teammates and coaches. They put me in positions to be successful and we’re all successful in the win.”

The talented senior running back scored on the game’s first play from scrimmage, catching a swing pass from quarterback Jake Renda in the back field and rushing up the right sideline for a 55-yard touchdown to put the Irish up 7-0.

WW-P (0-3) showed the Irish they were in for a dogfight as they answered Notre Dame’s opening score with a touchdown drive on its own first possession of the contest.

Taking advantage of three Irish penalties, WW-P found itself down at the Notre Dame 19-yard line where quarterback Shane Johnson floated a perfect fade pass to the back of the end zone for wide receiver Brandon Drayton to make a touchdown grab to tie the game.

Facing a little adversity with feisty WW-P tying the game right off the bat, Notre Dame punched right back to take firm control of the action on its next offensive possession.

Renda gave Notre Dame (4-0) the lead right back by doing a great job of faking the handoff on the read option and galloping up the middle for a 29-yard touchdown run to put the Irish back up seven.

“Having not been in a lot of those situations this year, we did a good job fighting back and scoring,” Renda said.

The Notre Dame defense helped set up the next Irish score with Ricky Spruill getting an interception after losing his first pick from the previous WW-P drive because of defensive pass interference.

Spruill’s interception led to Williams rushing through the WW-P defense for his second touchdown of the night from 51-yards out and then Spruill’s himself catching the two-point conversion try to put Notre Dame up 22-7 going into the second quarter.

The Irish’s next offensive possession started at their own four-yard line, but that didn’t stop Notre Dame from marching all the way down the field for its fourth score of the night.

Spruill rushed in for pay dirt this time for the Irish, setting himself up with a 20yard run for the first down and then on the next play, gliding in for a 13-yard touchdown to extend the Notre Dame lead to 29-7 with 7:28 to go in the half.

Renda led Notre Dame on a great two minute drill drive with 2:44 to play in the first half for the Irish’s fifth score of the half.

Starting at their own 24-yard line, Renda led Notre Dame on a nine-play 76 yard touchdown drive, accounting for 65 yards that included a one-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Leon Jones with 20 seconds left that gave the Irish a 36-7 halftime lead.

Renda had all of his three total touchdowns in the game in the first half. The senior rushed for 82 yards in the half, showing that he can do damage both with his arm and legs.

“Something that I worked in the offseason was to improve my speed and agility,” Renda said. “We’ve incorporated it into our offense this year. With the running backs we already have in our backfield, it adds another way for us to attack defenses with running the ball.”

Williams added to the Notre Dame lead on the team’s first possession of the second half, skipping his way to the end zone for a 28-yard touchdown to make it 43-7, Irish.

On WW-P’s next possession, Williams added in something special to his line of work on the night, intercepting Johnson’s pass around the 30-yard line and then running up the sideline for a picksix to give him four total touchdowns on the night and Notre Dame its second 50 point performance of the season.

Williams now has 11 total touchdowns on the season.

“Eleven touchdowns is nice. I love seeing that,” Williams said. “I care more about the wins though instead of the stats. I’m just trying to do whatever I can to help my team win games.”

Notre Dame (4-0) WWP (0-3) 2214140—50 7006—13

ND — Renda 55-yard pass to Williams (Chrissafis Kick) WWP — Johnson 19-yard pass to Drayton (Potenza Kick) ND — Renda 29-yard run (Chrissafis Kick)

ND — Williams 51-yard run (Renda pass to Spruill)

ND — Spruill 13-yard run (Chrissafis Kick)

ND — Renda 1-yard pass to Jones (Chrissafis Kick)

ND — Williams 28-yard run (Chrissafis Kick)

ND — Williams interception return for a touchdown (Chrissafis Kick)

WWP — Johnson 9-yard pass to Thompson (Kick No Good)

Follow Steven Bassin on Twitter @SBassin_Sports