MINERAL — When you look at Louisa County’s secondary, there’s 6-foot junior safety Zack Jackson and 5-foot-9 fellow junior Lorenzo Henson at one boundary corner. By age and height that makes 5-foot-5 sophomore Deon Johnson look like the runt of the litter.
He’s clearly no runt.
Johnson proved Friday night in a 32-13 victory over Courtland that picking on him might not be a wise decision.
The sophomore overcame a dubious pass interference call on an early second half Courtland scoring drive and got his revenge with a pair of critical, game-clinching interceptions that helped Louisa win a gritty, hard-hitting battle with the Cougars in Mineral.
“I love him,” Jackson said. “Those plays he made are not easy to make—he makes it look easy.”
Jackson proved quite a bit himself Friday night — mainly that he’s every bit the game that Louisa coach Jon Meeks indicated he was in the preseason. The junior who starts on both sides of the ball battled a severe cramp in the second half while playing one of the most physical brands of quarterback that exists. The Lions are playing a more traditional single-wing than the spread hybrid they’d migrated to under former coach Mark Fischer who was in attendance Friday night, and that requires Jackson to take bone-crunching hit after bone-crunching hit in games against physical teams like Courtland.
“We can’t get him off the field,” Meeks said. “A lot of guys tonight were hurt and banged up.”
With Andre Mealy rushing for 137 hard-fought yards and three touchdowns to lead the team in rushing, Jackson provided the counterpoint in the ground game, going for 97 yards and two touchdowns. That toil is no easy burden to bear, especially when Jackson has to turn around on defense and play the equally demanding deep safety in the Lions’ 3-5-3 defense.
“I was exhausted,” Jackson said. “The cramp was excrutiating. It was just tight and locked up and I was just praying to God to let it go away.”
Jackson had a pair of first quarter touchdowns, and with Mealy also cashing in twice, the Lions held a 26-0 lead at the break. Peanut Johnson’s 64-yard run in the second quarter set the table for Mealy’s 1-yard plunge. Courtland appeared to be in danger of getting run off the field.
But in the second half, Courtland started to put the ball in the air, scoring on its opening drive after benefiting from Deon Johnson’s borderline pass interference call. Kirk Wilson punched the ball in for Courtland from three yards out. Johnson picked off his first pass from Nick Zaluzney, who threw for 187 yards, on the Cougars’ next drive, which significantly slowed Courtland’s momentum. But his most critical play came in the fourth quarter, when, on the first play after a Louisa punt and with Courtland trailing by just 13 points, Johnson hauled in a second pick.
The Lions turned back to the combination of Mealy and Jackson on offense and Mealy provided the dagger with a 6-yard run with 6:17 to play that gave the Lions an insurmountable advantage.
Louisa heads to Spotsylvania next week before a looming clash with Jefferson District foe Monticello High on September 23.
