Stewart, Williams shine in Merced’s rout of Tokay

When you look at A.J. Stewart’s stats this season, you can understand why opposing coaches don’t focus their attention on him.

The Merced High junior averaged two catches per game.

Stewart caught Tokay’s attention on Friday night as he hauled in seven catches for 134 yards and two long touchdowns that helped spark the Bears’ 66-27 victory in the first round of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I playoffs at Veterans Stadium.

“It’s kind of ‘pick your poison,’” said Merced coach Rob Scheidt, whose team improved to 9-2. “Part of the reason he’s in the slot is we like his ability to stretch the field inside and out from that position. The other thing is in the playoffs, people don’t know you as much as our league opponents. Last year A.J. was kind of the guy he was for us tonight.”

The fourth-seeded Bears will host No. 12 Monterey Trail of Elk Grove – which defeated another Elk Grove school, No. 5 Cosumnes Oaks, 29-28 – in the quarterfinals next week.

Stewart did all his damage during the first half and it came after the Bears struggled against a Tokay defense determined to shut down Merced’s rushing attack.

That changed after quarterback Tyrone Williams kept the ball on a zone read and raced around the left end for a 49-yard touchdown that gave Merced a 10-7 lead with 9:17 left in the first half.

“It all started with that zone read, which is something we’ve run all season,” Scheidt said. “Initially they didn’t have anybody on our quarterback and Tyrone gets the big run. Then they put a guy on Tyrone and ran three high cover guys. That’s something we haven’t seen all season. We have beaters for that all night. There’s too many seams to cover.”

Williams then began picking the Tigers secondary apart. He found Stewart open for 45-yard and 49-yard touchdown passes in the second quarter to give Merced a 31-19 lead at the half.

Williams’ second touchdown to Stewart capped an 89-yard drive just before the half.

“You can’t cover man against our spread,” Stewart said. “We’re just too fast and too good.”

Tokay quarterback Grayson Dillon and UCLA-bound receiver LJ Reed kept the Tigers (7-4) within striking distance as they hooked up twice for touchdowns in the second quarter.

Reed finished with 136 yards on nine catches. Dillon threw the ball 49 times and finished with 331 yards passing.

“There was too much scoring, too many mistakes,” Tokay coach Louis Franklin said. “We had a lot of success in the first half. You could see we belonged. Made a few too many mistakes. This should have been a nail-biter.”

Tokay fumbled on the first play of the second half and Merced capitalized on the next play as Williams found a wide-open Nick Camper for a 33-yard touchdown pass.

Williams added a 31-yard touchdown to receiver Brandon McKinnon, and running back Jabar Byrd scored the second of his three touchdowns as the Bears outscored the Tigers 21-0 in the third quarter to build a 52-19 lead.

Williams completed 23 of 35 passes for 389 yards. Byrd finished with 141 yards on 18 carries.

This story was originally published November 15, 2014 at 12:30 AM with the headline "Stewart, Williams shine in Merced’s rout of Tokay."