For two seasons, Marcus Williams patiently waited his turn at Istrouma High for moments like last Friday.
With the Indians already having finished second in District 6-3A behind Baker, they were looking to close the regular season with momentum heading into the postseason.
Williams, a 5-foot-10, 205-pound senior, helped Istrouma achieve that with a season-high 29 carries for 163 yards and two of his three touchdowns during a pivotal fourth quarter to lift Istrouma to a 40-34 victory at Port Allen.
“He’s been our workhorse all year,” Istrouma football coach Brian Glover said. “He’s been our No. 1 guy.”
Istrouma trailed 26-20 at halftime and decided to place an emphasis on Williams in the second half to successfully cross the finish line.
During a tense back-and-forth game, Williams twice gave the Indians the lead, including with the go-ahead score in the final 2½ minutes, and earned this week’s LouisianaSports.net Player of the Week honor.
“We gave them a lot of opportunities from our mistakes,” Glover said of his team’s halftime deficit. “We had to fight back. We had to come back in the third quarter and the fourth quarter and hold them off. He was a big part on the three scoring drives in second half.
“A lot of what we kind of found was a sweet spot for us in the running game,” Glover said. “We turned and handed off to him five, six times in a row, and he answered the call and were able to drive the ball down the field and punch it in.”
Istrouma (6-4) returns to the Division III select state playoffs for the second straight year and finds a familiar opponent waiting.
The No. 19 Indians travel to No. 14 Independence (8-2), which won the teams’ previous meeting 39-30, on Friday at 7 p.m.
“When we lost to Independence, we felt better after the game knowing that we competed and it was a tough game,” Glover said. “That helped propel us for the rest of the season.”
Williams accepts enhanced role
Istrouma went 2-3 over the first half of the season, a span that included the nine-point home setback to Independence.
The Indians, though, saw their chemistry starting to pay off as younger and inexperienced players became comfortable with their roles. The results showed with four wins in their final five games.
“We were trying to figure out what we had in the first half of the year,” Glover said. “We had so many kids on the team that were inexperienced. They were either freshman or had played JV only the year before. We were trying to find who fit best in what situations, who fit best in which positions. As a staff we were just trying to figure out what we could hang our hat on.
“In the second half we’ve gotten more into a groove,” Glover said. “We’ve found out what players fit best in what situations and try to accentuate what they do best. After the Independence game, we started to kind of hit our stride a little bit.”
Williams was behind Class 4A All-State performer Kyre Paul, a Southeastern Louisiana signee, as a sophomore and divided time in 2025 with a pair of seniors, including Carmello Daigre.
“He didn’t get a lot of reps,” Glover said. “We knew coming into the season this was going to be his year that we were going to have to lean on him pretty heavily which we have.”
A key down stretch
Glover said he saw signs Williams was ready to handle a greater role in the team’s offense during the offseason, something he’s carried into his final year with the Indians.
He’s carried 142 times for 727 yards — an average of 5 yards per carry — and nine touchdowns to complement running quarterback Nicholas Wilson.
“He’s been here four years, he knew coming into the season this was going to be his time,” Glover said. “He knew this year he was going to be the No. 1 guy. You could tell in the offseason that he understood what his role was going to be.
“We saw an uptick in his preparation, we saw an uptick in his work ethic,” Glover said. “We saw early that his mindset was going to be a little different this year. We were excited to see what he was going to do for us.”
