As far as touchdown passes in the state of Illinois goes, there are a now three players at the top of the mountain.

Lincoln-Way East quarterback Jonas Williams threw two TD passes and completed 15-of-21 attempts for 169 yards before being rested in the second half of a 44-7 Southwest Valley Blue win over Naperville Central on Friday night.

Williams entered the game with 125 career touchdown passes, trailing Jordan Roberts of Aurora Christian, who set the record from 2005-08, and Tyler Hutchinson of Greenville, who tied it between 2012-14. Williams connected with Blaise LaVista for a 33-yard TD in the first quarter and hit Jake Murphy with a 14-yard touchdown late in the second quarter.

Williams twisted his ankle on the second TD, but returned on the next Griffins drive and did not return as his team was comfortably ahead.

“It feels good to be tied for the record,” Williams said, “but that’s not my focus. My focus is on winning, and we have some things to clean up from tonight.”

The Griffins (5-0, 3-0) had an uncharacteristic amount of penalties in the early-going, including three false starts on their opening drive. They were able to cut down on the flags after that, and the offense ran much more smoothly.

The USC-bound Williams threw a dart to Washington commit LaVista on the Griffins’ second drive, but the Naperville Central defense was able to force the Griffins to kick field goals for the next two scores as Grant Urban hit from 38 and 32 yards to give them a 13-0 lead with 8:28 to play until halftime.

Navy recruit Brody Gish, who finished with 110 rushing yards on nine carries, scored on a 9-yard TD run to put Lincoln-Way East ahead 20-0 following an interception by Kelvin Hayden. After the Griffins defense forced a punt, Williams hit Murphy for a 14-yard TD. Urban later gave them a 30-0 lead heading into halftime with a 27-yard field goal with 50 seconds to play in the first half.

In the second half, backup quarterback Tyler Knollenberg connected with Drew Harper for an 8-yard TD before Casey Mikrut returned an interception 25 yards for a touchdown and a 44-0 lead that started the running clock with 5:34 to play in the third quarter.

“Everyone wants to talk about Jonas and our offense,” Mikrut said. “They are awesome, but we take a lot of pride on the defensive side. We watch a lot of film and prepare a lot to get the job done.

“I have to hand it to our defensive line. They do a great job of filling holes and taking up blockers, so it gives us linebackers a lot of room to fly to the ball. Our starting defense still hasn’t allowed a point.”

Naperville Central got on the board on the ensuing drive when quarterback Jackson Loth hit Mark Williams for a 52-yard touchdown. Running back Landon Nelson finished with 70 yards on 14 carries for the RedHawks (1-4, 1-2).

“I thought our defense did a good job of forcing them to kick field goals in the first half,” Naperville Central coach Mike Ulreich said. “Lincoln-Way East is very good, and they do this to a lot of teams.

“What I admire most about them is the way they play fundamental football. There’s no doubt that they are talented, but their pad level is great, the way they fly to the ball and the way they have great form tackling is outstanding.

“When we look at the film, we will see some things that we did well, and we will see some things we have to work on. We are a young team and still learning, and we can learn a lot from playing Lincoln-Way East. They will definitely let you know what you have to work on.”