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So often it’s not what pushed you down. It’s how you respond.
It’s how you bounce back.
Lorenzo Louderback had a rough week against Harrisonburg as Charlottesville coach Eric Sherry pulled Louderback after a questionable block led to a Harrisonburg player getting knocked out of the contest.
“That was pretty sad when it first happened,” Louderback said. “I didn’t want him to get hurt and then I was ticked that I had to come out for that… I was kind of sad the rest of the weekend but I knew my team would come through and get the victory. (Tonight) I was very excited.”
Louderback was chomping at the bit this week and he delivered, scoring once on the ground and again on a reception from Rakeem Davis in the second half to help the Black Knights pull away for a 38-12 victory over William Monroe.
“He’s a very emotional kid and he’s come leaps and bounds,” Sherry said. “(Lorenzo) has grown so much. His effort level is fine and his heart is in the right place.”
Louderback was a big part of the CHS offense that piled up 400 total yards, 355 of that coming on the ground. He finished with 86 yards and the score on seven touches. He teamed up with freshman fullback Sabias Folley who finished with 154 yards on 19 carries, Rakeem Davis and Tre Durrett to form a strong rushing attack for the Black Knights despite the absence of Rashad Brock who is nursing an ankle injury this week that he hurt against Harrisonburg.
That’s a lot of youth in the backfield with the senior on the shelf, but the junior, sophomore and freshman proved to be a handful for Monroe despite the Dragons evening the game at 12-12 before the break. The second half, however, was all Charlottesville. Louderback got it started with a 14-yard touchdown on CHS’s first drive of the third quarter that broke the 12-12 tie.
Monroe answered with a long drive, powering the ball inside the 10, but the Dragons coughed it up at the nine and Charlottesville wasted no time getting to work, handing the ball to Folley who broke through the line on the dive-type play and raced 91 yards for a touchdown.
“Suddenly I was just in the open field,” Folley said. “I saw it and I took the opportunity to score.”
The play was a huge let down for the Dragons and they never recovered from that run and ended the game giving up 26 unanswered points. That’s in part due to a huge crop of sophomores taking the field as several injured starters forced the Dragons into some new looks in the lineup.
“I had a field full of sophomores taking the place of the guys I was so high on coming into this season,” said William Monroe coach Jon Rocha. “We got great experience for these sophomores, I loved seeing their grit. We play the whole third down a touchdown and then we fumble on the nine and then the wheels fall off but they never gave up.”
Monroe quarterback Malique Shackleford rushed for 82 yards on 18 carries and threw for another 45. Tyler Trevillians also got going on the ground with 42 yards on nine carries and Malik Mallory had 32 yards and a touchdown.
William Monroe starts Bull Run play next week and appears set to get healthier with several players essentially cleared to play against Charlottesville. They’ll open with George Mason.
The Black Knights begin Jefferson District play with a home clash against Fluvanna County Thursday night at 7:30 p.m.
