After a slow and relatively sloppy first half on both sides for Albemarle and Louisa County, things changed dramatically in the second. During the fourth quarter, in an aside comment, Louisa County Superintendent and former athletic director Doug Straley put it simply.
“I think they got one of those patented Mark Fischer halftime talks,” Straley said.
After falling in a 6-0 hole, in the first quarter, the Lions went into the break up by six. In the second half they scored 29 points without an answer from the other side. Behind 444 rushing yards and five fourth down stops on defense, Louisa took Fischer’s message to runaway with a 41-12 win over visiting Albemarle.
“He was just telling us that they were going to hit us in the mouth and that they were hungry, which they definitely were,” said Lions linebacker Brandon Smith. “After that we just had to accept that it was going to be a dog fight. After that, we knew we had to turn it up another notch.”
With a 41-0 run sandwiched between two Albemarle touchdowns, the Louisa coach was proud of the way his team turned things around. Maybe it was the Lions style that eventually wore the Patriots down. But maybe there was something extra too.
“The kids responded and especially on some of those third and shorts (on defense),” Fischer said. “(Offensively) we kind of do what we do and find what’s going to work. Coach Will Patrick kept exploring, exploring until he found the seams.”
Those seams were where David Sharpe thrived. The senior had a team best three rushing touchdowns with a pair of them in the third quarter to turn a 12-6 game into a 28-6 contest with 2:59 left in the third on runs of 13 and 18 yards respectively.
“On that play, we’re pounding inside, pounding inside and then boom, we come back opposite side,” Sharpe said. “Coach always says it comes down to the offensive line and I definitely think they did their part opening those holes. On the three times I scored I might have been touched once and I was just grazed.”
Albemarle set the tone early, forcing a fumble on Louisa’s opening possession. On the Patriots second possession after both defenses came up with fourth down stops, Albemarle was facing fourth and long from the Louisa 10-yard line. The Patriots sent out the field goal unit but a false start brought back the offense and quarterback J’quan Anderson scrambled to create a 15-yard TD pass to RaySean Allen and make it 6-0 with 3:42 left in the first quarter.
“That’s what football comes down to, coming out and playing hard when you’re in the jungle playing a great team, great coaches and great kids,” said Albemarle coach Brandon Isaiah. “In the third quarter we’re looking at 12-6 and in our minds that we have the ability, a shot to win this game.”
But it would be all Louisa from there. The Lions defense held Albemarle to zero third down conversions on 12 attempts and were 3-for-8 on fourth down. Louisa also held Albemarle to 266 yards of offense on 64 plays.
“We just knew we had to make our adjustments from our mistakes,” Smith said. “
The Lions got a 45-yard run Malik Bell that set up Job Whalen for a 3-yard strike into the endzone to tie the game at 6-6 on the final play of the first quarter. After a fourth down stop by the defense, the Lions marched down field and saw Sharpe break off his first touchdown run of the evening from 31 yards out with 5:47 to go until the break and make it 12-6.
After the two Sharpe TD runs in the third, the Lions defense put up a goalline stand when Anderson set the table for the Patriots with a 37-yard run. It was a night of squandered opportunities as that stand along with a 50-yard TD run from Anderson in the second was called back with a late hold and a Stephen Yoder kickoff return that would have made it first and goal was repealed because of a late block in the back.
Louisa put the final nails in the coffin with a 53-yard touchdown run from Smith and a 5-yard strike from Raquan Jones. Albemarle finished with a late fourth quarter TD from DaQuandre Taylor from four yards out to make it the 41-12 final.
“We made too many mistakes and got in our own way a couple of times,” Isaiah said. “We had the opportunities and just didn’t score. The ran pound, pound, pound on and I thought the defense played great we were just out there too long. You can’t keep stopping that over and over. We just need to finish drives.”
On the night, Louisa got 129 yards from Bell on 16 carries. Smith had three touches for 78 yards. Whalen added 72 on his 12 carries. Sharpe had only four attempts but 59 yards and three scores. Jarrett Hunter chipped in 12 touches for 43 yards.
For Albemarle, Anderson finished with 18 carries and 70 yards to go along with 88 yards passing. Allen had 72 of those passing yards on four catches. Brock Shorten had 11 rushing attempts with 61 yards.
The Lions (4-0) hit the road against Western Albemarle (1-3) next week while the Patriots (1-3) play host to Monticello (4-0).
