Friday was a huge test for Louisville.
The Wildcats went on the road for the first Class 4A, Region 3 game of the year and were in a rematch of last year’s North State Championship with Houston. The Hilltoppers had Division I commitments and other prospects on the roster and were set to be a major challenge for the Wildcats. But Louisville was ready.
LHS put together its most complete performance of the season as the Wildcats built a first half lead and exploded for a 50-6 statement win. If the rest of the state didn’t know already, they know now that the Wildcats are a force.
It will be hard to find a more balanced attack than what the Wildcats put together in the game and the execution was high on the offensive end. Xavier Hunt was 9-of-14 for 182 yards and two touchdowns and he rushed three times for 31 yards. Dinero Jackson had two catches for 89 yards as he took the top off of the Hilltoppers while scoring a touchdown in the game. Jykevious Goss also had a score on three catches for 44 yards and took a kickoff back for a touchdown.
The Wildcats rushed 28 times for 182 yards taking the offensive total to 365 yards on 44 plays. Jayllun Hoskins led the team with 68 yards on the ground and a touchdown on six carries while Kendon Sanders scored twice in his six carries for 21 yards.
Midway through the first half, the Wildcats had a battle on their hands. After a quick score from Goss on the opening kickoff of the game, things slowed down for LHS and it was a 6-0 ball game headed to the second quarter.
The beginning of the unraveling from the Houston defense came early in that second frame when the Wildcats started to wear down the group. They drove 98 yards on that possession and finished it off with a 2 yard run from Sanders to make it 13-0.
Houston would get a bit of the momentum back on a touchdown with a little over 4 minutes left, but that was taken right back from the Wildcats as Xzarion Haynes returned the second kick return of the day for a touchdown and a turnover on the ensuing kickoff set up a 33-yard field goal from Ceidrick Hunt to make it 23-6 headed to halftime.
LHS kept it going in the second half as Xavier Hunt found Jackson for a 60-yard bomb and then Sanders got another touchdown inside 5 yards making it 36-6 headed to the fourth quarter. After Hunt’s 20-yard touchdown toss to Goss, the Wildcats had a running clock on the road. They finished things off with Hoskins’ 23-yard run in the final 2 minutes for one of the more impressive wins of the week in the state.
As impressive as the offensive and special teams’ performance was, the defense was again dominant. After the second quarter touchdown surrendered, LHS gave up zero points the rest of the way and they’ve now given up just 12 points a game with back-to-back contests of six points surrendered.
Sanders coupled his big day on the ground with 13 tackles on defense and 3.0 tackles for loss. The Wildcat unit had 8.0 TFL total.
The victory improved the Wildcats to 6-0 on the season and 1-0 to start off Region 3 play. They return home this week to take on a strong Kosciusko team who has a 4-1 record to this point and is also 1-0 in district play after a 42-28 victory over the Caledonia Cavaliers.
The Whippets are coached by a former Winston county head coach in Casey Orr and they’re pushing for a district title this season, hoping to come to Louisville on Friday and disrupt the apple cart.
