Last season’s loss to West Lauderdale stuck out like a sore thumb to Louisville High School players and coaches. A team that has dominated Class 4A, Region 4 over the years, Louisville was on the verge of marching through the district with another unbeaten season. That was until the Knights handed the Wildcats the first district loss in four years with a 36-35 defeat. Coach Tyrone Shorter wanted his team to remember the feeling of finishing second in district a season ago against a team that has become a rival to the Wildcats. This time around, LHS left no doubt. The Wildcats racked up 40 or more points for the third time in as many games in Region 2 play, and the defense was strong as well in a 40-15 handling of the Knights. “The one thing is, we treated that game like it was a playoff game. That’s the mindset that our kids and coaches are trying to set. There’s no tomorrow,” Shorter said. “Our guys came out and executed our game plan as well as they could execute it. Our coaches put our kids in the best situations possible.” He continued, “I thought we played all three phases of the game really well besides a couple of miscues on extra points. We came out and set the tone. We knew they were a really good team, and we had to play good football.” West Lauderdale tried to come out and set the tone with a rushing attack, and it failed. The Wildcats held the Knights to just 1.8 yards per carry on 42 rushes for 76 yards. The LHS defense was flying to the ball led by Kendon Sanders and Kenneth Hill’s 18 tackles each. Sanders had 2.0 tackles for loss and a sack. The team had 13.0 stops behind the line for scrimmage and an amazing 8.0 sacks in the game. Gabriel Moore had 2.0 sacks alone with two forced fumbles and finished with 11 tackles and 3.0 TFL. Christavious Savior also got his second interception of the year, and Laterrious Haynes and Caden Thompkins recovered two fumbles. On the offensive side of the ball, things were balanced once again for the Wildcats. Keyarrion Jackson made his thirdstraight start and was 12-of-18 for 152 yards with two touchdowns and a pick. He had 17 carries for 32 yards as well with a score. Jaden Triplett was just shy of a 100-yard game with 22 carries for 99 yards and a touchdown. “It’s been getting better and better week after week and that’s where we expect it to be. I expect it to be clicking on offense this time of year,” Shorter said. “We are so young and played such tough competition at the beginning of the season. Our offensive line is playing as well as they can play, and I’m proud of those young men. When you have four sophomores and a freshman, there’s going to be growing pains and those guys have done a great job.” That offensive line started things off midway through the first quarter opening up some holes to move the ball down the field on what would be a 1-yard run from Jackson to get the early 6-0 lead. Jackson would go to the air a few minutes later finding Swahili Earby for a 40-yard pass making it 13-0. The Knights would get closer just before the end of the first quarter with a touchdown run to make it 13-7, but that was as close as it would be the rest of the way. Triplett would go to work on the next drive, finishing it off with a 5- yard run, and then Jackson would hit Dearrius Norton on a 4th down to make it 25- 7 at the half. After West Lauderdale cut into the lead after the half at 25- 15, the Wildcats would have an answer with a 5-yard run from Kendon Sanders. In the fourth quarter, Moore and the defense would put a stamp on the game with a forced fumble that was scooped up by Thompkins and returned 70 yards for the final score of 40-15. The win improved the Wildcats to 7-1 on the year with a 3-0 start in Region 4. It sets up what could be a district title-clinching ball game against Leake Central on the road on Friday night. The Gators are 1-6 and have lost fivestraight games, but Shorter cautions that they have some skill that will make them difficult to defend at times. He’s already let his team know not to take the Gators lightly and attack Friday in a business-like manner. “They’re very athletic and have size. This team can be dangerous because they have two really good quarterbacks and skill guys,” Shorter said of Leake Central. “We’re going to have to dominate the game in the trenches because they can match up. We’re going into this game preparing like we did last week. I told our guys that we can’t let outside distractions get in the way. We’ve got to do us and continue to do our thing.”
