Louisa County began a three-game stand in The Jungle with a drama-free 56-0 victory over Western Albemarle Friday night.
“The boys are just playing hard and competing,” said Louisa coach Will Patrick. “You can see we’re a lot more explosive this year than we’ve been in the past, and it’s pretty fun to watch.”
An increasingly-notorious pair of freshmen, Savion Hiter and Dyzier Carter, propelled the Lions to a five-touchdown lead midway through the second quarter, even though the offense only had four series. Hiter dashed in from 19 and 17 yards out before senior quarterback Landon Wilson tossed Carter a nine-yard score late in the first quarter. Carter had given the offense prime starting position for its third possession via his 35-yard punt return down to Western’s 27 yardline. Hiter then capped drive number four with a 42-yard run that left more than one defender dazed, confused, and empty-handed.
“I’ve got to rely on my vision, so when I saw two people coming, I’ve got to go the other way,” said Hitler. “Coach Brown’s always working us in practice, making those cuts.”
Trailing 28-0 early in the second quarter, Western got a couple of first downs via personal foul flags before facing third-and-10. Junior quarterback Nathan Simon fled the pocket to his right before heaving the ball 35 yards downfield toward a couple of Warrior targets; however, Carter was also there at safety in coverage. He made the interception and raced down the home sideline for a 70-yard pick-six.
“I had Eli, he missed a block on the punt [return], but he got it back for me on that pick-six, so I’ve gotta give him props for that,” said Carter. “After that, it was just me and whoever else was in the way.
Hiter, for his part, intercepted Simon in the endzone on the last play of the half to preserve Louisa’s 35-0 lead and set up a running clock after the break.
The Lions received the third-quarter kickoff and marched 70 yards in nine plays. Wilson called his own number to pick up 12 on a third-and-11 before Hiter tallied his fourth score on an eight-yard run. That marked his final action for the night as he finished with a game-high 140 yards on just 10 rushes, and added 47 more on three pass receptions.
“Those two kids (Hiter and Carter) are different, man,” said Patrick. “They’re so young and it’s going to be fun to watch them get even better as the years go by.”
Senior Austin Talley and junior Lawton Rowan added touchdown runs of 25 and 3 yards, respectively, to round out the scoring. After the Warriors crossed into Louisa territory early in the fourth quarter, junior linebacker Adam Mills recovered an errant option-pitch, ending the visitors’ biggest scoring threat and pushing the turnover margin to plus-three for the Lions. The defense allowed just 112 total yards on the night, including no passing yards in the second half.
“We had 11 hats to the ball a lot, and that’s all you can ask for as a football coach,” said Patrick. “Defensive football is lining up right and then playing hard and doing your job, and I thought we really did that; all 11 kids hustling their tails off.”
For the Warriors, Simon connected on just 5-of 16 pass attempts for 50 yards on the night. He added 14 yards on eight runs. Shifflett led the team with 12 carries for just 23 yards. Western (3-4, 2-2) hosts Fluvanna County (0-7, 0-4) for homecoming in Crozet next Friday.
Meanwhile, Wilson completed 12-of-16 for 137 yards and ran four times for 36. Carter was his top target with four receptions for 45 yards. Louisa (8-0, 5-0) gets a bye next week before hosting Albemarle (5-1, 3-0) for homecoming on October 28th. It’s clearly a highly-anticipated matchup in The Jungle as the Lions look to avenge last year’s 23-7 defeat at AHS that snapped a streak of 31-straight Jefferson District wins.
“You can expect a lot,” said Carter. “Ain’t gonna say too much, so you’ll have to wait and see.”
