It’s gotten to the point that you know when it’s coming — the second quarter. As many big runs as he’s produced though, his timing was perfect on the road against Monticello. With the game tied up, Anthony Hunter made Louisa County coach Mark Fischer’s decision to go for it on fourth and five at midfield look brilliant.
“That’s the fun part of the game, right?” Fischer said. “I’m either a hero or a zero.”
With Brandon Ornduff and Chris Colvin stepping in for the Lions short yardage formation, appropriately reffered to as “Beast”, Hunter got the one block he needed and ran the ball 55 yards to put his team out in front. From then on, all Louisa would allow the Mustangs was a safety on a botched punt and a very late touchdown with the game out of reach. As a result, Fischer’s squad moved one win away from a perfect regular season by beating Monticello, 32-15.
“We don’t have the luxury of having this happen to us all the time,” Fischer said. “We’re competitive every year I guess, but to be able to put together an undefeated season, those (years) are few and far between. When you get the opportunity, you can’t let it slip by you.”
Both squads found the endzone in the first quarter with Rayshawn Jackson breaking off a 25-yard touchdown run and Mustangs running back Jesse Ayres capping a drive with a 2-yard run of his own.
Monticello was driving early in the second quarter, but turned the ball over on downs after back-to-back sacks from Jackson and Hunter. Just a few plays later, the Lions were in an awfully similar situation, but came way with points.
“(Getting the turnover on downs) was huge for us,” Jackson said. “We had to make some adjustments because they were beating our schemes. We made the adjustments and it worked.”
Looking for wiggle room, the Lions got just that with a gift from Colvin on special teams when he partially blocked a Mustangs punt to give Louisa the ball just outside the Monticello 10-yard line. In their previous possession, the Lions threw an interception in very same position. This time they kept the ball on the ground and hammered it home with Louisa quarterback Kire Worley who eventually broke through on a 2-yard run to make 20-6 going into the second half.
Scoring was light in the second half with the Lions going up 26-6 in the third on a short run from Hunter after Raheem Johnson caught a 45-yard bomb from Worley. The Lions scored their last touchdown of the game with a similar formula, this time midway through the fourth with Worley hitting Lorenzo Henson for 58 yards and Jackson breaking the goal line four carries later.
Early in the fourth, Louisa blew a snap while punting deep in their own end, but wisely turned it into a safety.
The Lions defense would not allow the Mustangs to get anything going until the last minutes of the game. On the last drive of the night, Monticello was able to work the ball down the field and set up first a goal. Nathan DiGregorio caught a 4-yard pass from Jhalil Mosley as time expired.
“Against a team like Louisa, you’ve got to play perfectly and we didn’t,” said Monticello coach Brud Bicknell. “The ground game was there, but in spurts. They bring so many people you can’t do it every single play. You have to be able to throw the ball and complete some passes, but we didn’t get that done. But I like to think that that’s more about them than us. Louisa’s just really good.”
Focusing on cutbacks in particular, the gameplan coming into the contest for the Lions was to stop Ayres, and compared to how the rest of the Jefferson District has faired previously, Louisa was successful in that effort, holding the senior to 111 yards and one score on his 27 carries.
“That was obviously the focus and deservedly so, he’s a heck of a running back,” Fischer said before joking, “We tried to motivate the kids all week that it was Anthony against Ayres. We told them, ‘They’ve got Ayres but we like ours.’ We had to do something to a little swagger and joking going.”
Hunter led the Louisa offense with 115 yards rushing on 14 carries while Worley and Jackson pitched in 70 and 56 yards respectively.
The Lions (9-0, 7-0) will look to become just the second squad (2006) to go 10-0 in the regular season in school history when they travel to Fluvanna County on Friday at 7:30 p.m.
Monticello is taking the loss and looking to make the most of it. The Mustangs still have a solid chance to make the playoffs with a win in their last game.
“Hopefully this game prepared us for what’s ahead, but the next game is the playoffs for us,” Bicknell said. “I think we have to win that game to get in. We probably don’t deserve to get in if we lose.”
Monticello (5-4, 4-3) travel to William Monroe on Friday at 7:30 p.m.
