MAYO — Tywan Williamson remembers the start to his junior season. Or rather, the lack of starts.
Coming off an ankle injury from the Hornets’ spring game, Williamson was held out of the team’s season-opening win over Dixie County before playing sparingly against Suwannee and Brookwood.
But playing against Chiefland, Williamson tallied a pair of interceptions in a 38-20 loss. However, he still completed 4 of 7 passes for 98 yards, matching backup Tucker Higginbotham’s yardage on 10 fewer attempts.
Williamson decided to approach head coach Marcus Edwards and ask for more of everything: more responsibility, more reps and more on-field options.
“I just asked him, ‘what’s going on with the offense?’” Williamson said. “The next practice that Monday, he told me he’ll expand the offense and start trusting me more. It just went from there.”
While Lafayette lost the next two games in offensive shootouts, Williamson’s play only improved from that Chiefland loss. He wound up throwing just one pick the rest of the season while piling up 24 passing touchdowns and six more rushing scores on his way to earning LCR All-Area honors.
Williamson continued to get better through his senior campaign. He led his team to wins in eight of its first nine games before dropping their last two against Chipley and Williston, the latter coming in the first round of the Class Rural playoffs.
Even in the season-ending defeat, Williamson gave the Red Devils fits. He threw for 186 yards and a touchdown on just eight completions while rushing for 131 more yards on 20 attempts. His final rush of the night was a 1-yard touchdown run.
It was the final act of Williamson’s season and high-school career. It also topped off an effort that earned Williamson the honor of LCR Offensive Player of the Year.
“I think it (represents) that I worked extra hard,” Williamson said. “I thank my coaches for pushing me to my best abilities, working to help me be the person that I became.”
Williamson posted some of the best stats of his career to earn the honor, including career highs in passing yards (1,906), yards per completion (20.1), and touchdowns (31, tied school record). He also ran the most often he has throughout his four years starting at quarterback, posting career highs in attempts (98), yards (869), yards per carry (8.9), and touchdowns (10).
Williamson’s efforts also extended to the defensive side of the ball, where Edwards said he relied more heavily upon his quarterback’s leadership. Williamson recorded a career-high 17 tackles while picking off a pass — the eighth of his career — and breaking up three more. He also wound up with a fumble recovery from his defensive back position.
“He played a little bit more defense this year just because we needed him to,” Edwards said. “We could put him on whoever’s No. 1 receiver, and they didn’t throw that way.”
Edwards has coached Williamson the last five years since his eighth-grade season. He said the growth his quarterback has shown over time — especially since that Chiefland loss in 2024 — has been remarkable.
“I can’t say enough about the type of kid he is,” Edwards said. “…The maturation over his four years, where we had our offense in his first year and the things that we could do by year four, it was almost night and day, being able to give him some of that stuff to do at the line of scrimmage, take the cuffs off a little bit and let him be a playmaker.”
Williamson said his favorite memory of the year came against rival Branford. Riding a 17-game winning streak in the series, Lafayette was looking forward to another rout.
Williamson knew the school’s stakes, but had some personal skin in the game as well. He was four passing touchdowns shy of tying the school record of 85 set by Jaxson Beach from 2016-19. Told this fact by a cousin of his, Williamson had a daring prediction for his teammates before taking the field.
“I just told my guys we were going to break it here,” Williamson said that night.
He threw for three touchdowns on the Hornets’ first three drives of the night before pulling even with Beach on a 37-yard strike to tight end Ryland Wine down the seam with 9:30 to go in the third quarter. Six minutes later, Williamson found Kaeden Woods on a 4-yard slant route for the record.
Williamson threw for four more touchdowns after that, winding up with 89 for his career atop the Lafayette record books. While the accolades are certainly there on the field, Edwards said he believes Williamson’s greatness extends beyond.
“He’s not a replaceable player,” Edwards said. “You just can’t say enough about what he’s done for this program.”
The accolades, unfortunately, haven’t done much for Williamson’s prospects at landing a college offer quite yet. However, as with all things on the field, Williamson said he remains upbeat about his future.
“I’m still trying to get noticed,” he said. “I question what else I need to do. But I’m just putting it all in the Lord’s hands.”
ALL-OFFENSE TEAM
QB: Tywan Williamson
Lafayette, senior
The LCR’s Offensive Player of the Year completed 95 of 172 passes for 1,906 yards and an area-best 31 TDs while also rushing for 869 yards (8.9 per carry) and 10 more scores to lead the 8-3 Hornets to the Class Rural playoffs.
RB: John’l Lawson
Fort White, junior
Rushed for an area-best 864 yards on 109 carries while scoring 10 touchdowns to help the 8-4 Indians win the Class Rural FIT championship.
RB: Lou Jack Smith
Suwannee, senior
Led the Bulldogs with 778 yards on 137 carries and scored eight touchdowns on the ground while also catching 11 passes for 157 yards and two more scores.
WR: Kyren Caldwell
Columbia, junior
Led the 9-3 Tigers with 48 catches for 701 yards and 8 TDs to help them reach the Region 1-4A semifinals.
WR: Maurice Vought
Branford, senior
Led the area with 58 catches for 1,142 yards and 13 TDs while finishing the year with 1,438 all-purpose yards to help the 7-4 Buccaneers reach the Class Rural playoffs.
ATH: Jayden Jackson
Fort White, senior
The Georgia Southern signee accounted for 1,458 yards all-purpose yards, which included 602 rushing on 60 carries and 534 receiving on 44 receptions, and threw for 723 yards while accounting for 35 touchdowns (11 passing, 19 rushing, five receiving and one punt return).
OL: Xander Satterfield
Columbia, junior
Helped pave the way for 3,076 yards of offense (256.3 per game).
OL: Caiden Campbell
Fort White, junior
Helped pave the way for 4,080 yards of offense (340 per game).
OL: Brayden Lambert
Lafayette, sophomore
Helped pave the way for 3,920 yards of offense (356.4 per game).
OL: Jesse Norris
Branford, junior
Helped pave the way for 3,361 yards of offense (305.5 per game).
OL: Colton Hagedorn
Suwannee, senior
Helped pave the way for 2,951 yards of offense (295.1 per game).
K: Mathan Cook
Columbia, junior
Connected on 37/42 extra points and made 2/5 FGs, with a long of 40 yards.
COACH OF THE YEAR
Brian Allen, Columbia
Led the Tigers to an area-best 9-3 record and their first playoff win since 2022 — a 35-0 win over Rickards in the Region 1-5A quarterfinals — with a defense that allowed just 11.6 points per game. Columbia nearly advanced to the regional finals but came up just short against Choctaw in the regional semis in a 27-20 loss.