CJ Williams has spent hours upon hours giving to the Lake Howell (Fla.) high school football program. On Thursday night, he was rewarded for his dedication.
Williams, 19, is autistic. That hasn't stopped him from becoming a big part of the football team, watching hours of film and attending practices.
Against Cleremont Ridge East, coach Dave Wensyel decided it was time for CJ to take the field. It was "the right thing to do," Wensyel told the Orlando Sentinel.
"It is a simple thing, but it means so much to him,'' Wensyel said. "For all of the things we worry about in a football game, all the dumb stuff, our problems aren't too big.''
As the game approached halftime, Wensysel sent Williams into the game. He took the snap on the untimed play and ran down the field, protected all the way by his teammates. At the goal line, Williams spiked the ball.
"Parents all have the same dreams for their kids,'' said CJ's mother, Kathleen. "One by one by one, you watch the dreams of your child fall away. They talk about everything he can't do.''
Williams loves football. As a youngster he took part in a challenger league, for special-needs children. There, the Sentinel reported, Williams became friends with then-UCF and current Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles.
The game was won by Lake Howell, 10-7. Williams' score didn't count, except to everyone present, on the team and in the stands.
"He's just ecstatic," Wensyel said of Williams. "My heart is so happy for him. He's the best young man you could ask for. He cares about everyone else more than himself.''
The "score" completed a great night that saw Williams warm up with the team and walk to midfield for the coin flip as an honorary captain. He also took a knee on the final play of the game.
"This is enormous," Kathleen Williams said. "It's getting back little pieces of a dream that you thought you lost forever.''
