A dominant regular season would mean nothing for the Louisville Wildcats if they slipped up and had a bad night in the playoffs. There were a couple of testy moments in the first round against North Pontotoc last Friday night, but the Wildcats settled in against the Vikings. It all led to LHS keeping the playoff win streak alive in a 35-0 victory. The win was the 11th-straight playoff win for coach Tyrone Shorter at LHS. It didnít start strong enough for the coach, however, as his quarterback Xavier Hunt threw interceptions on the first couple of drives. This came after he missed last weekís game due to an illness that occurred prior to the game. ìI thought we came out kind of slow, but besides that we played pretty good once we settled down. I think we were hyped up too much. We had two turnovers, the first two possessions that stopped our drives but we got it together,î Shorter said. ìI just told them to settle down. I thought our quarterback rushed his throws. Bad mechanics led to those picks. He had a good week of practice, he just rushed one and left one short.î Though Hunt threw two interceptions, the Wildcat defense got stops and gave them another opportunity midway through the first quarter. LHS went to the ground with Zaiden Jernigan and the freshman exploded for a 70-yard run for the first score of the game. Jernigan was back in the second quarter when he scored twice to extend that lead out to 21-0 by halftime. Jerniganís fourth score came early in the third when he got in from 16 yards away and Xzarion Haynes issued a running clock with 5 minutes left in the third quarter when he scored from 10 yards out. After the interceptions, LHS stuck with the running game most of the way. The Wildcats ran for an incredible 326 yards and averaged 12.1 yards per rush as Jernigan had a career game with his 14 carries, 235 yards and four touchdowns. Haynes rushed seven times for 69 yards and a score. On defense, Travon Mcdonald led the team with 18 tackles and an incredible 7.0 tackles for loss and 4.0 sacks. Ayden Coleman finished with 10 tackles, 3.0 TFL and 2.0 sacks. The game was the fourth in the last five games where LHS has surrendered seven or fewer points and the second-straight week with a shutout. Shorter believes his team is getting up to par on that side of the ball. ìI think weíre starting to play good defense. Weíve just got to stop giving up explosive plays. Once we can eliminate that, I think weíll be fine,î Shorter said. ëI like what weíre doing up front. We just have to stop giving up the 30-yard big plays.î The victory improved LHS to 10-1 on the season and Shorter has now won 10 or more games in all six seasons as head coach. Additionally, the Wildcats continued their streak of doubledigit win seasons at eight. The most important streak in Shorterís mind, however, is that state championship streak as the Wildcats attempt to win their third-consecutive title. Round two is the next challenge and Amory (8-3) is up at R.E. Hinze Stadium on Friday night. ìAmory is a wellcoached football team,î Shorter said. ìThe only thing that gets me with them is weíve got to prepare for about 20 formations. They run a lot of different formations and trick plays, so we have to be disciplined on that side of the ball. I think theyíre going to stack the box, and we have to come up big on our passing game. Itís going to be a tough second round game for us.î
