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Louisa County football remains perfect thanks to huge second quarter against King George

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It was a 10-minute explosion that King George never quite recovered from. The Foxes were in control of the game midway through the second quarter, up by two possesions and when they went into halftime, they were down by two scores. It was a blur of by plays from Louisa County.

 

“When Mr. Mo comes to your side you just have to take advantage of it,” said Lions coach Mark Fischer.

 

Behind a 28-0 run in that second frame, the Lions took the lead and then in second half, hung on to win with defensive back Malik Minor coming up with a game clinching interception late in the fourth quarter to wrap up a 34-26 win at home in a battle of unbeaten teams. With a come-from-behind win over Sherando to start the year, a drubbing of Courtland last week and now this, the Lions have won just about every way possible.

 

“We’ve experienced the whole gamut already and we’re just three games in,” Fischer said. “Fortunately our defense held on and it was kind of a ‘bend but don’t break’ philosophy there at times… We got lucky and our kids responded at the right time.”

 

As the Lions were snake bitten a bit between penalties and miscues in the first half, the Foxes were able to put together a pair of scoring drives in their first three possessions. After a short punt gave King George the ball at midfield, the Foxes marched 50 yards and capped it was a 3-yard TD run from Kyree Garrett. Then two drives late for the Lions, a poor snap and indecision afterwards gave King George the ball at the Louisa 17-yard line. On a trick play, running back Jordan Aley passed to quarterback Deon Williams for a 15-yard TD strike and it looked like the Lions were in legitimate trouble, down 13-0 with 10:21 left.

 

Then Louisa responded. A school known well for its pyromania when it comes to fireworks, the Lions lit off a gridiron powder keg starting on their next drive. Behind quarterback Malik Bell and running backs Job Whalen and Raquan Jones, the Lions methodically marched down field 65 yards and Whalen broke loose for a 17-yard touchdown run to put the Lions on the board.

 

“That was big,” Bell said. “We just had to step it up, finally make something happen. We put it into our heads that we were going to get it done.”

 

On the ensuring Foxes drive, the Lions defense  was backed up in its own end again but came up with an interception from Kenny Brown. That set up a drive that featured a 33-yard run from Bell to give Louisa first and goal at the King George 1-yard line. On the next play from scrimmage Whalen ran it and then Bell cashed in the 2-pt convert with a pass to Raquan Jones to give the Lions a 14-13 lead with just over two minutes to go until halftime.

 

Louisa wasn’t done though. First, King George muffed the ensuing kickoff to give the Lions the ball at midfield. Then on the next play from scrimmage, Bell found Jordan Cherry for a 49-yard touchdown pass and it was 20-13. And still, that wasn’t enough. With the Louisa defense coming up with a stop, the Lions went up 28-13 when Bell broke loose for a 59-yard touchdown run as Whalen threw two impressive blocks on the edge to free up the quarterback some space so that he could run over the last remaining defender.

 

“That’s my boy (Job) and he blocks for me, I block for him,” Bell said. “That’s how we do. We’re physical upfront and that’s just what are. We’re not the fastest team in the world but we sure are physical.”

 

But things got strange in the second half. Louisa, as it had in the first half, drew a slew of penalty flags to stall promising drives. Conversely, King George struggled to move the ball with starting quarterback Deon Williams missing the second half because of injury. The Foxes made it a game again though late in the third quarter with Aley capping a long drive with a 9-yard touchdown run.

 

Louisa responded with a drive of their own. There, facing fourth and four at midfield, Bell hit the Foxes defense with a pump fake to set up a 17-yard run and shortly thereafter, Whalen hit paydirt for the third time of the night with a 21-yard touchdown scamper to increase the lead to 34-19.

 

The Foxes fought back and got a 19-yard touchdown run from Aley with 4:13 to go to make it an 8-point game. The Lions marched the ball to midfield, but turned it over on downs with just under two minutes left. Louisa’s defense answered the call though. With time melting away, the Foxes went to the air and Malik Minor came up with an interception. Minor’s return set up the Lions with the ball deep in King George territory and with three seconds left, Bell took a knee and ended the game.

 

“We made a ton of mistakes and played sloppy ball,” Fischer said. “We were lucky to get out of here with what we got. That was a great football team. I don’t think they’ve gotten the credit they deserve. They played well and fortunately we had that big second quarter. That saved our bacon.”

 

On the night, Bell finished with 22 carries for 214 yards. He also passed for 72 yards. Whalen had 112 yards on 19 attempts. Cherry finished with three catches for 60 yards.

 

Defensively, Brandon Smith had a huge game with seven tackles and three of them for a loss.

 

“We’re just trying to put the right athletes in the right spots,” Fischer said. “We tried to guess with him on when to blitz. He’s still a young pup and there are some things he can improve on but you can’t complain about the way he played tonight. He did a heckuva job.”

 

Defensive linemen Quinton Ragland and Donald Thurston respectively had six tackles with a sack and five tackles with two TFLs.
The Lions improve to 3-0 and open up Jefferson District play with a 2-1 Albemarle squad coming to Mineral on Friday at 7:30 p.m.

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