It’s that time of year where the regular season is thrown out the window and one bad night ends a season.
Louisville was tested early but the Wildcats didn’t want that one bad night to come their way in round one against Itawamba AHS. After seeing an early lead cut to 14-7, the Wildcats scored the final 21 points of the game and ran off with a 31-7 blowout win to kick things off.
“The first two drives, we came out and scored quickly and then penalties started hurting us,” coach Tyrone Shorter said. “We had three or four holding calls that backed us up and killed drives. Our guys settled down and played much better in the second half. Itawamba came to play. They gave us a fight the first half. These are the playoffs and everyone wants to win so we had to make sure we took care of business.”
The game looked like it was going to be a blowout very early with the Wildcats striking early on a 10-yard touchdown pass from Xavier Hunt to Kamron Triplett and then a Jaylin Jordan 6 yard run that made it 14-0 after one quarter of play.
After most of the second quarter went quiet, the Indians were able to get into the endzone to cut into that lead with under 3 minutes remaining. The Wildcats took some of that momentum back at the buzzer of the first half when Ceidrick Hunt nailed a 32-yard field goal to make it 17-7, and it was all Wildcats from there.
The defense was the star of the show in the second half as they held Itawamba without any points and allowed the offense to get back going with two more touchdown runs from Jordan and Kendon Sanders in the fourth quarter that put the game away.
“Our defense has been playing very well all year. For us to win a state championship, they’re going to have to continue to play well,” Shorter said. “We got healthy at the right time and got Kenneth Hill and Djay Miller back. Our offense is going to move the ball and score the ball, so I told our defense if our offense scores seven points, we should be able to win the game. We feel good about where we are on defense.”
On the defensive side of the ball, the unit held IAHS to just 100 yards of total offense with an incredible minus-21 rushing in the game. LHS had 15.0 tackles for loss and 9.0 sacks along the way led by the dynamic duo of Travon McDonald and TyQuan McKinney who had 3.0 sacks a piece and 4.0 TFL along with 19 combined tackles.
Sanders had 15 tackles to lead the team and also had 3.0 TFL and 1.0 sack. Jykevious Goss had an interception and three tackles in the defensive backfield.
Offensively, it was a good night on the ground for the Wildcats. The team committed to running the ball and had 41 carries for 206 yards led by Jordan’s nine touches, 63 yards and two touchdowns while Sanders added the other score.
Xavier Hunt was 14-of-26 passing for 114 yards and a touchdown and Triplett led the way as a receiver with four catches for 48 yards and the score.
The victory for the Wildcats (11-0) was the 22nd in a row dating back to last season and the team has its eyes set on back-to-back state titles. The job isn’t close to being finished, however, as New Albany is next up at home on Friday night.
It’s the best season in several years for the Bulldogs as they enter 8-2 with dominant wins in five-straight weeks and that includes handling a previously unbeaten Ripley team to finish out the regular season.
“They’re big on both sides of the ball. The offensive line and defensive line is huge, they have a very good quarterback and they have one of the best wide receivers in the state,” Shorter said of New Albany.
“I think that playing at home is our 12th man for us. Our fans are very supportive. Not going on the road and traveling out of your comfort zone is huge. -playing at home is very important and that’s why you work so hard to get that number one seed. Our kids feed off of our fans’ support and energy.”
