Williams Fields’ Noa Pola-Gates celebrated his 17th birthday in style with touchdowns on both sides of ball in the school’s rout of Poston Butte.

Pola-Gates and his teammates commanded the game’s tempo from the start, and the Black Hawks (5-2) went on to win the 5A non-region matchup, 52-6.

“They’re just big and physical, and that’s something we just don’t have,” Poston Butte coach Dain Thompson said. “We don’t have the depth and size they have, and we got worn down pretty fast.”

Poston Butte (3-3) could not get anything going offensively early on. Williams Field held the Broncos running game in check and forced the offense to beat them through the air, eventually leading to five interceptions for the Black Hawks.

“(The defense) shut down the run and made them throw the ball,” Williams Field coach Steve Campbell said. “They played sound, fundamental defense tonight.”

Pola-Gates was responsible for one of the interceptions—a pick-six toward the end of the first half that put Williams Field up 31-0.

“Our game plan was to play as a team, come together and do what we needed to do, and we did that tonight,” Pola-Gates said.

Being able to perform so well on his birthday in front of the student section on the school’s homecoming night was the icing on the cake for Pola-Gates, who finished with a rushing touchdown to go along with his interception return.

“I just love playing on the field,” Pola-Gates said. “I always have. (Being on the field) makes me comfortable.”

Campbell was happy to see Pola-Gates play so well, too.

“It’s always awesome on your birthday to have a big game,” Campbell said. “(Noa’s) been a big play guy for us all season, and he continued that tonight.”

Black Hawks’ quarterback Zack Shepherd threw for over 125 yards and two touchdowns in the contest, and running backs Jaden Thompson and Jordan Neal combined for over 120 rushing yards and a touchdown. Campbell, however, still wants his team to learn from this game and find every way to improve.

“Hopefully we get in there and watch film and can say we became a better football team,” Campbell said. “That was our goal today. We got some guys back healthy. We’re a little behind the curve from where we should be at. That was our focus, though, was to clean some stuff up and play sharper games.”

As for Poston Butte moving forward, it begins regional play next week at 7 p.m. at home against Flowing Wells.

“Now our real season starts,” Thompson said. “We have to take it one game at a time. It’s a cliché, but now the games really matter for us.”

Williams Field will look to improve to 2-0 in regional play on the road Friday at Vista Grande at 7 p.m.