The eye -onfusing color combination of pink and forest green, a pep talk from member of the T.C. Williams team that inspired the Disney film “Remember the Titans” and the usual carnival-like atmosphere seen at every Louisa County game — all of that and the Lions’ first win against Goochland since 2003 gave the Louisa seniors plenty to remember in their last regular season home game in the jungle.
After a battle to start, the Lions moved one win away from earning a share of the Jefferson District title with their 28-7 win over the Bulldogs behind a dominant two-way performance in which Louisa’s rushers piled up 355 yards and the defense held Goochland’s offense to just 144 yards.
“That’s a sign of a veteran team,” said Louisa coach Mark Fischer. “The kids can come off the field and communicate with me and tell me what’s going on and what (Goochland was) doing. After a couple of series we were able to figure everything out.”
It was a field position game in the first quarter, but early in the second the Louisa offense started to move the chains and marched downfield. After Rayshawn Jackson capped that drive with a 1-yard scoring run, the Lions put together another long drive just before halftime, this time with Anthony Hunter finishing things off with a 5-yard touchdown run followed by a 2-point conversion to make it 15-0 going into the third.
Out of the break, Goochland came out hot. On the first play from scrimmage Bulldogs running back David McKenna capitalized on a defensive miscue and ran for a 61-yard touchdown.
“We saw some things in the first half that we thought we weren’t doing well but if we just corrected those things and fine tuned it a little bit, we’d be able to do what we do,” said Bulldogs coach Joe Fowler. “We were able to hit one but Louisa then made adjustments.”
That brief window was the only one that Louisa’s defense offered Goochland’s way and four minutes after McKenna’s long run, Hunter answered with a 34-yard rushing strike of his own to make a 15-point game again.
From there Hunter, Jackson and quarterback Kire Worley continued to pile up the yards on the ground and chew through the clock, while the Lions’ defense bottled up McKenna and Dustin Plummer to keep any Bulldogs comeback on ice.
“We just fixed all the mistakes that we made last year, especially those cut-back lanes,” Jackson said. “We wanted to run (the defense) perfect.”
Four minutes into the final frame, Hunter picked up the final points of the night on when he capped off a lengthy drive with an 11-yard run to end his night with 21 carries for 200 yards.
As good as Hunter was, after the first quarter it didn’t exactly matter who had the ball, the Lions were able to muscle their way down field. With Worley and Jackson, Louisa had three runners with 60 yards or more. Worley had 12 rushes for 71 yards while Jackson contributed 61 yards on his 14 touches.
“It was all about the line,” Hunter said. “They just stepped up and we give them all the credit.”
Both Jackson and Bruce Ragland recovered fumbles on defense and Hunter and Chris Colvin finished with five tackles each.
Goochland was held to just 38 plays on offense, and outside of McKenna’s dash to start the third quarter, those 37 plays accumulated only 83 yards.
“We don’t match up (with Louisa),” Fowler said. “They’re big, they’re strong and they’re fast. We just weren’t able to match up.”
Yet despite the loss, the Bulldogs are still very much in the playoff hunt for a spot in the Region II Division playoffs along with Monticello, Western and Park View.
“If we can win the next two, Monticello’s still got Louisa and Park View’s got a real tough schedule, so we’ll see what happens,” Fowler said.
The Bulldogs (4-4, 2-2 Jefferson District) host William Monore on Friday at 7:30 p.m.
Next week the Lions (8-0, 6-0) head to Monticello and win will guarantee at least a share of the JD crown. This is also the second straight year that Louisa has won every regular season home game.
