Louisa County’s Kire Worley rolled to his right and settled down, unpressured and unhurried, surveying the Orange County defense as every Lions fan in Porterfield Park seemed to hold their breath.
On an eerily similar play earlier in the contest, Worley held the ball too long and was eventually sacked for a loss.
This time though, just seconds into the fourth quarter, he checked off his primary target Raheem Johnson and unleashed a deep ball.
“I just saw my guy (Lorenzo Henson) from the backside coming across and I saw a hole in the corner open so I just threw it,” Worley said.
Henson streaked across the field a couple of yards deep in the endzone and ran right under the ball for a 30-yard touchdown catch. A few seconds later, Anthony Hunter pounded ahead for a two-point conversion to tie the game.
Suddenly Louisa County had all the momentum and the Lions caught fire with 22-unanswered points in the fourth quarter to grab a 31-17 victory.
Worley ignited the comeback with the touchdown to Henson, and he finished 8-for-15 for 163 yards, shaking off a pair of first half interceptions for a big second half.
“He’s going to make me a hero or he’s going to make me pull my hair out,” said Louisa coach Mark Fischer. “But how can you not love him? He’s a competitor and he goes after it … more times than not he’s made the right decision.”
After Louisa’s defense, a unit that also had a huge second half, forced a three and out after the Henson touchdown, Worley took less than 10 seconds to respond when he found Anthony Hunter on a swing pass in the flat — an area of the field that the Hornets struggled to defend all night — and hit the senior tailback in stride. Hunter took off, shaking off one tackler near the start of the run before racing down the sideline for what would become the winning touchdown.
As usual though, the run game paved the way for the Lions, with Rayshawn Jackson and Hunter both crossing the 100-yard mark. Hunter piled up 142 yards on 14 carries while Jackson went for 100 yards on 15 carries. Hunter finished with 220 total yards from scrimmage after hauling in 78 yards on four catches. Jackson’s rushing touchdown from 14 yards out gave the Lions some breathing room in the final minutes.
Orange controlled the flow of play in the first half, scoring on its opening drive when Tyrone Ellis scurried in from three yards out. The tailback actually rushed for 32 yards on the opening drive alone. He finished with 82 yards on the night.
The Lions’ defense adjusted well in the second half, with linebacker Chris Colvin exploding as a disruptive force in the Orange backfield when the Lions moved their speed package. In that formation, Colvin and Hunter move to the inside linebacker spots, putting an extraordinary amount of quickness into the heart of the Louisa defense. Colvin had 10 total tackles, nine of them solo and six for a loss. He also had a sack and a pass breakup in the fourth quarter on fourth down that ended a critical Orange drive.
“We moved him around a little bit and got him in a spot where he could focus on the box more,” Fischer said. “Getting him more into the center of the action helped us.”
Louisa countered with a four-yard Hunter touchdown on a sweep to the right. Louisa then grabbed the lead for the first time with a Conner Martin field goal. Orange punched back with 58-yard and 18-yard tosses from Cameron Hughes to Amir Waller that quickly set up a 3-yard touchdown run by Waller. Louisa was actually poised to take back the lead just before halftime, but a Waller interception in the endzone on a clear miscommunication between Kire Worley and Johnson cut short a dynamic Louisa drive.
“We played well we just made some mistakes in the second half,” said Orange coach John Kayajanian. “We stopped the run in the first half, but the second half we let them wear us down a little bit.”
Orange extended its lead to 17-9 lead with a terrific march to start the third quarter with a solid balance of passing and running. Hughes found Tyler Seal for a 30-yard pass and then just two plays later, Ellis ripped off a 28-yard run. The Hornets couldn’t punch it in, but Hunter Ferguson buried a 33-yard field goal.
After that though, Louisa found its stride.
“We talked during halftime and told them we were going to buckle up and drive it down the field,” Worley said. “And that’s what we did.”
