When the forecast hit the weather apps and local television channels early in the week, the state of Mississippi hurried to make plans to avoid a Friday night slosh fest on football fields around the Magnolia State.
While most of the state moved games to Thursday night, Louisville coach Tyrone Shorter took it on as a teaching moment and a challenge. The Wildcats played their four quarters in a steady rain at R.E. Hines Stadium and left with a win and the Class 4A, Region 4 championship.
The weather was no issue for the team as they came out and took care of Leake Central 39-0 giving the Wildcats back-to-back shutouts in division play. It also gave them back-to-back conference title wins for the first time in over 20 years.
“The reason that I didn’t move the game to Thursday is that I wanted to see how this team could handle the weather. Last year’s team handled it really well, but this is a different team. I wanted to see how we handled the elements and we did a great job. We didn’t have any turnovers or even a bad snap.
“You don’t know what you’re going to get in the month of November so I wanted to see them in those elements.”
Louisville has won nine state championships and Shorter has plenty of his own with Noxubee County, but none of that meant anything to this year’s team. The 2019 version of the Wildcats has several new pieces stepping into holes left by players that were a big part of things in last year’s Class 4A state championship team.
With a new coach and new players in those roles, the Wildcats hit their bumps in the road in non-conference play with a loss to Noxubee County and another to Starkville, but they also knocked off the state’s top Class 5A team in West Point. All of that prepared them to go 8-2 to this point and they’re on the verge of a perfect Region 4 record.
“We played a tough non-conference schedule to get us ready for our division. West Lauderdale was the team to beat in our division and we got a shutout which was a great thing,” Shorter said. “This is a new team and Drea Shumaker is a first-time full starter at quarterback and he’s done a great job. Michael Foster was out most of the season last year with an injury and the offensive line is mostly new. Our goal was to win the division and we did.”
The rain and the opponent were no matter on Friday night for the Wildcats. They came out early and took care of the Gators scoring two touchdowns on runs from Foster and Jaquez Thames for a 12-0 lead. It was 19-0 at the half after Kaleb Mosley caught a Shumaker 19-yard pass.
Shorter challenged his team with the passing game in the elements even more in the third quarter as Shumaker threw two touchdowns to Niselbyion Kirk. The first was a 45-yarder and the second was 25-yard score making it 32-0 through three quarters.
The Wildcats finished things off with a late touchdown rom running back Jaden Triplett as he broke off a 20-yard score.
The defense was again the story for the Wildcats who have held opponents scoreless for eight-straight quarters. They kept Leake Central’s quarterback Kevron Leflore uncomfortable for most of the night as he was 1-for-11 passing for two yards and the defense allowed just 29 yards all game long as the Gators rushed 20 times for 27 yards.
On the offensive side, the Wildcats were balanced again. Shumaker was 14-of-20 in the pouring rain for 169 yards and three touchdowns. Foster rushed for 77 yards on 10 carries and Thames had a game-high 15 carries for 92 yards and a touchdown of his own. Kirk had three catches for 72 yards and two scores and Mosley went for 60 yards on five catches and a score.
