There’s a train rolling downhill from Louisville, and no one appears up for the challenge to stop it from becoming the unquestioned best football program in the state of Mississippi.
The Louisville Wildcats fought up to the top in number of state titles last year when the team tied West Point for the most titles in the state’s history. The Green Wave were able to pull ahead for two days before the Wildcats got right back up there on Saturday afternoon.
Another dominant day defensively and a great gameplan on the offensive side of the ball handed Tyrone Shorter and the Wildcats a dozen championships in school history in a 19-6 win over Columbia. The win was the third state title for Shorter as he became the first Louisville coach to take home a trio of championships and he’s done it in five years.
“I told these guys when I first got here five years ago, there’s no reason that Louisville shouldn’t be leading the state in state championships,” Shorter said. “West Point did a great job (Thursday), but we’re right behind them.”
A lot like the Green Wave, the Wildcats did their winning by controlling the football. The team didn’t turn the ball over and turned Columbia over three times in the game. LHS dominated time of possession by nearly 11 minutes, and it wore down the Wildcats with constant pressure on the defensive end.
LHS finished with 255 yards of offense to Columbia’s 186 and most of Columbia’s yardage came late in the game as it was attempting to get back into the ball game.
Quarterback Xavier Hunt was a big reason for the team’s success in the contest as he managed the offense about as well as he could. A year after getting benched as a sophomore and watching a large portion of the state title win from the sidelines, this was Hunt’s team this year.
“He grew up. Last year, he started the season the first five ball games and we pulled him, but he grew up this year,” Shorter said of Hunt. “For him to go 15-0 and do what he did in the state championship game, that’s why he got MVP. I’ve been telling him all along that he’s that type of quarterback.”
Hunt finished the day 6-of-8 passing for 109 yards and he had 10 carries for 47 yards and two scores as he took open runs when they were there and scored inside the 5-yard line after the team marched the ball into position.
“We worked hard all week in practice. and I knew that I had to keep the tradition going. We’ve never lost in the state championship, and I knew that I had to keep that streak going,” Hunt said. “I stayed humble and kept my head on straight. I had to stay confident, be myself and play my game.”
LHS finished the game with 146 yards on the ground as it controlled the clock most of the way. There were a couple of runs of 10 or more yards, but the game was mostly about getting into 3rd and 4th and manageable. LHS finished 7-of-14 on those downs with a 5-of-12 showing on 3rd and 2-for-2 on 4th. Columbia went 1-of-11 and didn’t convert a single 3rd down in the game.
Hunt scored the first two touchdowns of the game as he drove the team 60 yards down the field on the first drive and took 4:29 off the clock scoring from 1 yard away. His second was a 68-yard drive that took another 5:45 off the clock in the second quarter and gave the Wildcats a 12-0 lead going into the half.
After Kendon Sanders pushed that lead out to 19-0 with his 1-yard run that took the game to the fourth quarter, the Wildcats of Columbia started to show signs of life. Columbia converted a long 3rd down that got the team going and an 18-yard touchdown pass would close the lead to 19-6 with 6:04 left.
Columbia got the ball right back on a three-and-out and were driving down the field before pressure got to the quarterback on consecutive plays and the second of those led to a Semaj Knowles interception. Columbia got it back one last time and a last try was picked off by Kam Triplett to seal the deal.
The defense was once again monstrous in the game. LHS had 9.0 TFL, 4.0 sacks and had two interceptions in the game. Knowles and Jacari Owens led the way for the team with seven tackles each while Tayquon McKinney finished with four tackles, 2.5 TFL and 1.0 sacks in the game.
The win made Louisville 15-0 and gave the team its second undefeated state championship season in the last 10 years. It was Shorter’s seventh state title as a head coach as he’s coupled four state championships with Noxubee County with another three at LHS.
Now, the Wildcats are thinking of a first-ever three-peat at the school. With a 26-game winning streak and a whole lot of talent returning, there’s no reason to stop expectations now. Before all of that, Shorter had a chance to reflect on the season that was. Wins over state champion West Point, title runners up Starkville, Noxubee and Columbia and other big-time opponents like Houston made this win even sweeter.
“It’s special. If anybody knows me, I’m going to schedule a tough schedule. I feel like if we can survive our schedule, we have a better chance to win a state championship,” Shorter said. “We put the schedule out in the spring and they embraced that schedule.”
