A month or two ago, Louisa County’s late October schedule looked daunting. Three straight weeks featured showdowns with top Jefferson District contenders sandwiching a rivalry game at 5A Orange County.
Now, the Lions enter November with a 9-0 record, having completed their gauntlet with three 62-spots on the scoreboard, and three second halves featuring a mercy-rule running clock.
“It’s a great feeling because it could be our last home game on coach’s field; it’s just a blessing to win it,” said Louisa senior quarterback Malik Bell, as with the 62-27 win the Lions now look poised to host a Region 4B first-round game in two weeks. “There’s no other experience like (being) in the Jungle.”
Charlottesville ventured in on Senior Night hoping to do what Monticello and Orange could not. Instead, back-to-back-to-back-to-back special teams mistakes in the first quarter enabled Louisa to open a 34-0 lead before the Knights’ offense got to dial up its fourth play from scrimmage.
“Coach Patrick said [special teams] could be devastating, and he was right,” said Louisa coach Mark Fischer. “We saw great opportunities for the kids to get some big plays on special teams, and they really drilled the heck out of it this week.”
To the extent one could find fault with a third straight blowout, Charlottesville’s triple-option attack matched Louisa’s offense over the last three quarters of the game. The Knights’ 27 points were a season-high against the Lions.
“We’ve got to learn how to finish,” said Louisa senior Job Whalen, who rushed for two touchdowns and a game-high 123 yards on 13 carries, and also added a 13-yard touchdown reception. “We started off great. Special teams played a great game, but we’ve got a lot more work to do to meet our goal.”
Louisa received the game’s opening kickoff and marched 80 yards in nine plays, all on the ground. Whalen and sophomore Jarrett Hunter led the way before Bell scored on a 7-yard keeper around the left end. Charlottesville got it next but it wasn’t the usual triple-option backfield lineup.
“Sam [Neale] was limited in practice, so we had Rakeem getting the reps during the week and we wanted to stay consistent with it,” said Charlottesville coach Eric Sherry, as the senior shifted from running back to under center for the first series.
The Knights quickly faced third-and-9, which became five yards tougher after a delay-of-game penalty. A two-yard run brought on the punt team, and also commenced the avalanche of special teams disasters. Louisa junior Brandon Smith raced untouched from the left edge of the defensive front and easily blocked the punt. The ball bounced back toward the goal line before diving players deflected it into the endzone, where sophomore Austin Sims fell on it for a Louisa touchdown.
“We missed a block and their kid executed,” Sherry said. “We self-inflicted a lot of things in the first half, but that doesn’t take away from how good a football team they are.”
Davis fielded the ensuing kickoff and looked to setup the CHS offense near midfield with a nice return, but he fumbled before being brought down. Louisa recovered and so it was the Lions’ offense that drove 54 yards in three plays, aided by a late hit penalty. Bell completed his first pass of the game to Whalen, who had lots of space in the left flat and scooted in for a 13-yard touchdown.
Now trailing 21-0, it happened again to Charlottesville on the ensuing kickoff, only worse. This time Matthew West recovered the fumble for Louisa at the Knights’ 31. Bell completed a couple more passes on this series before Whalen ran it in from six yards.
“You read the media and everybody says that we don’t have a passing game, so all the teams plan for just run, run, run,” said Bell. “Little do they know, we can pass, too. We’re a triple-threat team.”
Bell would get to work more on the air attack in short order. Fischer dialed up a squib on the ensuing kickoff, which bounced off a Charlottesville up-man and Sims recovered. Bell completed three passes for 33 yards on the subsequent 49-yard drive, and the Lions’ fifth touchdown of the opening quarter came on a 12-yard screen to senior David Sharpe.
“Every week, the passing game’s gotten better and better,” Fischer said, as Bell completed 8-of-9 passes for 91 yards and three touchdowns, all in the first half. “We know that’s part of our game that’s got to come together if we’re going to have any opportunity to be competitive.”
Neale was under center as the Charlottesville offense finally got on the field for its second possession. Sabias Folley picked up a couple of first downs, but the drive stalled a couple of minutes into the second quarter. Louisa got it back the traditional way after a punt and then put together a 10-play, 78-yard drive. Senior Raquan Jones burst in on a 10-yard run. After a quick three-and-out, Louisa took just four more plays to push the lead to 48-0 on Bell’s 22-yard play-action touchdown pass to Brandon Smith down the middle of the field.
To their credit, the Knights did not fold, but instead mounted touchdown drives to bookend halftime. Neale broke a 39-yard run on fourth-and-2 in the final minute of the second quarter. Davis returned the third quarter kickoff 43 yards to the 48, and from there the offense mounted a six-minute, ten-play drive, capped by a Folley 2-yard run.
“I got pretty doggone frustrated, to be honest with you,” Fischer said. “All of the sudden they started finding some success with the read and the fullback off the B-gap, and then the quarterback was keeping it. I’m really not sure what we were doing wrong, but it’s a frustrating offense. It ain’t like we’re the first ones that ain’t figured it out. Hopefully we don’t see this anymore.”
With the score 48-14, Whalen restored the running clock with an 11-yard touchdown run to cap Louisa’s eight-play, 76-yard drive. Folley added two more touchdown runs (8, 1) in the fourth quarter for Charlottesville. In between, Bell kept up the 35-point margin with a 50-yard keeper for his second rushing touchdown.
“Coach always told us that we’ve got to finish and keep our foot on the gas,” said Bell, who ran seven times for 106 yards on the night. “He told us that he was upset with the way we were playing, so I had to give him something to put his faith back into us.”
Folley led CHS with 15 carries for 78 yards. Neale finished with 91 yards on 11 rushes and completed one pass for 47 yards. The Knights had just 95 yards of offensive in the first half and were outgained 465-257 for the game.
Louisa (9-0, 6-0) wraps up the regular season at Fluvanna County (2-7, 0-6) next Friday. Charlottesville (6-3, 4-2) hosts Monticello (8-1, 5-1) in a huge Senior Night contest for both squads’ playoff positioning.
