Ellis McGaskin rushed for a pair of scores to lead Williamson over Citronelle 20-0 on Thursday night at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.

McGaskin rushed for 81 yards and scored a pair of second-half touchdowns on runs of 4 and 3 yards.

The Lions defense, which gave up 51 points to Gulf Shores last week, stuffed the winless Wildcats, allowing under 50 yards total offense.

“Proud of our defense tonight for pitching the shut out,” Williamson coach Antonio Coleman said. “Honestly, our mentality is we don’t want the opposing team to cross midfield.”

Citronelle, which was plagued with penalties, only managed one first down in the first half. Their longest play from scrimmage was 11 yards.

“We had some injuries and some disciplinary issues that we dealt with, so we had guys playing where they normally don’t get reps offensively,” Wildcats coach Jason Barnett said.

Williamson led 6-0 at halftime on a 4-yard touchdown run by Tyrek Gaines on the Lions second offensive possession. The touchdown was setup by a 40-yard punt return by Jeremiah Owens.

Williamson scored on back-to-back drives in the third quarter – both coming off Citronelle interceptions.

“Region win, shut out, all that is great, but we can’t let teams hang around,” Coleman said. “We have to put teams away.”

Star of the game: McGaskin carried the offensive load for the Lions.

“He’s just an eighth-grader, still learning the game. He runs the ball so physical for us,” — Coleman.

Play of the game: Yusuf Clark’s interception of Blake Jarvis on the third play of the game set the tone defensively for the rest of the night.

Stat sheet: Jeremy Williams passed for 79 yards for the Lions. Keith Donald had 43 yards receiving for Williamson. Rivers Johnson rushed for 29 yards for Citronelle.

By the numbers: 8 — consecutive losses on the road for the Wildcats, last road victory was 2020. 4 — Shutouts for Williamson on the season. 19 — total points scored by the Wildcats the past five games.

Coachspeak: ”I know we didn’t give up any points, but I still think we could improve and be better on defense.” – Coleman.

They said it: “Too many penalties and turnovers cost us tonight. I’m proud of how our guys battles, though.” – Barnett.

Next week: Citronelle (0-7, 0-5) hosts No. 1-ranked UMS-Wright on Friday, while Williamson (6-2, 4-2) hosts a key region matchup against Faith Academy. That game is scheduled to be played at Baker.