By Tammy Purcell/ ScrimmagePlay.com Contributor
Problems plagued Louisa County from the start against Courtland Friday night. The Lions fumbled on their opening drive and quickly fell into a 12-point hole.
The Lions never recovered, falling to the Cougars 26-0 for their first loss of the year and third straight at the hands of their rivals to the north.
Louisa’s offense started out well enough on the first few plays of their opening possession as sophomore quarterback Kire’ Worley and senior running back Glenn Cosby combined to move the ball downfield.
But that success was short-lived as the Cougars (1-2) jumped on a Lion fumble near midfield, setting up their first score. Two and half minutes later, senior Jordan Lewis capped Courtland’s 5-play, 44-yard march with a 24-yard touchdown run.
Following their first ill-fated drive, the Lions’ offense sputtered for the rest of the evening, hampered by a trio of fumbles and a stifling Cougar defense. Their usually powerful running game couldn’t find a spark and their passing game wasn’t really a threat. The Lions managed 165 yards of total offense, with all but 10 coming on the ground. Cosby was the squad’s leading runner, amassing a quiet 75 yards.
“[Courtland] is the best defense we face every year and they always will be as long as [Defensive coordinator Ryan] Hall is running it,” Louisa Coach Mark Fischer said, adding that he had difficulty figuring out the Cougars’ defensive schemes.
Senior signal-caller Dillon Hollins, who has been sharing quarterback duties with Worley, saw only limited action under center because of a nagging thigh injury and that didn’t help the Lions’ cause either. Worley struggled to handle the pressure from a powerful Courtland defensive line, which sacked him three times for a combined 28-yard loss.
“Kire’ took 90 percent of the snaps this week [in practice] and [he] is more than capable. I don’t think it boiled down to our quarterback play. I think they physically beat us up front and I didn’t make the adjustments to counteract that and give our guys a fighting chance.”
Meanwhile Courtland had plenty of chances, capitalizing on Louisa’s offensive miscues and burning the Lions on a few big plays. The Cougars found the end zone for the second time near the middle of the second quarter when quarterback Ryan McBroom hit junior wide receiver Wahid Moore with a 33-yard scoring launch to complete a 7-play, 55-yard drive that mixed the pass and the run.
The tenacious Courtland defense gave the Cougars a three-touchdown advantage early in the second half as junior Josh Bailey stripped the ball from Cosby at midfield then scampered 50 yards to pay dirt.
The Cougars final score came on a 14-yard Josh Dubose run with three minutes remaining in the third stanza.
Courtland (1-2) tallied 123 rushing yards for the night while McBroom completed three of his four passes for 48 yards.
Louisa (2-1) will look to rebound Friday night when they travel to William Monroe for their Jefferson District opener.
