After watching what his offense was capable of in the second quarter, Louisa County coach Mark Fischer is dying to see what the overall product would look like if his squad came of out the gates and played with the same vigor. A first quarter turnover allowed visiting Western Albemarle to take a 3-0 lead, but behind one big play after another from a variety of players, the Lions went on a scoring tear to cruise to a 48-17 win on homecoming.
“That’s what’s exciting — is when we get a lot kids involved — and we know that we’ve got the kids that can do it,” Fischer said. “When they make plays that just builds our confidence. Hopefully that makes it more difficult to defend us … that’s what we’re hoping (we have) many weapons and actually have them produce, not just say that we have them.”
After a Louisa fumble recovered by the Western’s Abbot Wallenborn resulted in three points late in the first quarter, the Lions answered back in less than a minute as Anthony Hunter, who the Warriors had bottled up on his previous four carries, broke free for a 63-yard touchdown to put his squad ahead. Louisa never looked back.
When Louisa got the ball back, it was Zack Jackson’s turn. The sophomore took an end-around to the edge of the field untouched and showed his speed as he made a break for the endzone for a 46-yard touchdown.
“They called my number and I just did the best I could do for that play,” Jackson said. “We were looking to go outside because they were putting so many people in the box and when you do that the outside is there all day. We did that and we were successful.”
The Lions defense then capitalized on a Western miscue when a pitch to the outside went awry and defensive lineman Tommy Payne came up with the ball. Kire Worley quickly turned that into seven points on a perfectly thrown bomb to Raheem Johnson for a 40-yard touchdown reception.
Trailing by 18, Western receiver Jake Nidiffer hauled in a two 20-yard plus receptions to put his team at the 1-yard line. And after the Warriors rushers couldn’t stuff it in, Nidiffer won a jump ball on a pass from Wallenborn to make it 21-10 with just under six minutes remaining in the second quarter.
Not to be outdone, the Lions pushed the ball downfield with Rayshawn Jackson, and once again Zack Jackson capitalized when his number was called, again on an end-around, but this time for a 7-yard score. Louisa then recovered an onside kick and Rayshawn Jackson found the endzone after another lengthy drive, his touchdown coming on a 7-yard rush.
With halftime closing in, the Warriors watched another miscue turn into points, as a bad snap to Wallenborn wound up in the hands of Chris Colvin. Connor Martin turned that in a 31-yard field goal to close out a wild first half.
After defensive back Elijah Payne was named homecoming king at halftime, the Lions picked right up where they left off. Martin tacked on a 38-yard field goal to extend the lead to 28. Then Hunter barreled through four Western defenders for another huge rushing touchdown, this time for 60 yards.
With the clock rolling, Western held the ball for all but 19 seconds of the fourth quarter. Wallenborn, Adam Diehl and Christian Asher got the Warriors to the goal line again, and after the second string Louisa defense forced fourth and goal, Wallenborn was able to reach pay-dirt on a 1-yard run to wrap up all scoring.
For Western, Wallenborn finished with 23-carries for 55 yards and was 10 for 23 passing, picking up 105 yards. Diehl ran for 29 yards on five carries and also had 38 yards on two catches. Nidiffer had four receptions for 45 yards.
Hunter led all rushers with his 141 yards on just nine carries. Rayshawn Jackson was also efficient with 10 attempts for 81 yards. Worley was 7 for 12 with 142 yards passing and also ran for 61 yards on five tries. Zack Jackson finished with two carries and two catches and had 86 total yards. Johnson caught two passes for 52 yards.
Western (1-4, 0-2) hosts Charlottesville on Friday at 7:30 p.m.
Louisa (5-0, 2-0) heads over to Orange County also on Friday at 7:30 p.m.
