By Bryan Rothamel / Scrimmageplaycva.com contributor
Louisa County ended its season Friday night with a 42-28 loss to Monacan in the first round of the Region 4A East playoffs.Trailing 28-16 coming out of the half, the Lions didn’t panic. They kept with their tried and true run first offense to march 58 yards. A 8-yard dash by Job Whalen capped the 4-minute drive to bring Louisa within four.
However, that was the closest the Lions would get.
Monacan’s quick offense was too much to handle, led by quarterback Syour Fludd and running back Korey Bridy. On the ensuing drive Bridy carried the ball three times for a combined 49 yards to stretch the lead to 35-24.
“The kids were up [coming out of halftime],” said Lions head coach Mark Fischer. “A couple things they did, we hadn’t seen. They got us on a couple of plays.”
Louisa tried to answer with a methodical drive that started on its own 3-yard line. In danger of a three and out, quarterback Zach Liddle connected with Brandon Smith for a 24-yard pass. Then a heavy dose of running and a MHS penalty got LCHS to the Monacan 24 but stalled on a fourth and five.
Louisa kept hope alive when Malik Minor intercepted a Fludd pass to end the third quarter. The Lion offense got a quick first down from a Whalen run but again turned the ball over on downs. Monacan next threatened the red zone but fumbled on the 9-yard line. Louisa got two more first downs before it was unable to convert a fourth and four. The Chiefs took over with six minutes left and scored on a 23-yard Fludd keeper to put the game safely out of reach. Fludd ended the game going 14 for 18 with over 214 yards passing and three total touchdowns. Bridy ran for two touchdowns with 170 yards on 20 attempts.
“[Fludd] makes us go. It’s real nice to have a good back back there in Korey,” said Monacan head coach Jim Henderson.
Whalen led Louisa County with 33 attempts for 185 yards. He scored two touchdowns. Liddle had 74 yards through the air including a touchdown. He ran for 37 yards on 14 attempts. Liddle made his first start of the year in place of injured Malik Bell.
“I couldn’t be more proud of Zach. Just shows what type of kid he is,” said Fischer.
The Lions had control early in the first with Caleb Turner intercepting Fludd’s third pass of the game. After collecting two first downs, Raquan Jones found a gap for a 22-yard run. Whalen followed that up with another 22-yard run for a touchdown. Jones then ran in the 2-point conversion to make it 8-0.
The next drive the Chiefs went 52 yards, capped with a 28 yard Fludd touchdown pass to Austin Snellings to bring it 8-7. After a Louisa fumble, Fludd dropped back on four consecutive plays to throw a combined 64 yards for another Snellings touchdown.
A quick four downs for LCHS gave the ball back to MHS with 10 minutes left in the first half. A drive that included seven carries for Bridy concluded with a three yard touchdown run.
Louisa thought they would end the half with a bang when Whalen flipped back to Liddle for a 32 yard flea flicker touchdown pass to Smith. Another two point conversion brought it to 21-16 Chiefs with 1:10 in the half.
“It’s (a) crazy week in practice trying to prepare for (Louisa’s single-wing offense),” said Henderson. “They came out and threw some more wrinkles in we weren’t ready for.”
The Lions’ excitement didn’t last long as Fludd contributed 55 yards between the ground and air before De’Andre Williams had in a 1-yard touchdown run with seconds remaining in the half.
“Those early touchdowns, they got on top of us. You can’t judge speed on film and they had speed that we have not encountered,” said Fischer.
“I couldn’t be more proud of these kids. There were a couple of things we kept in house…our kids have gone through a whole heck of a lot this year and stuck together and fought their guts out.
“This team ranks right up there as one of those teams. We went through a lot that had nothing to do with football. And they stuck together and fought through. I’m just super proud of these boys,” said Fischer.
The Chiefs will continue their playoff run as they travel to Dinwiddie next week.
