Hornets last home game features Flatonia
By KRIS BAGLEY sports@leader-news.com

The Hornets will enjoy a homefield advantage for the last time this football season come Friday when the Flatonia Bulldogs come to town.

Louise, 5-3 on the season and 2-2 in district play, are preparing to take on the Bulldogs and their 5-2 record.

Flatonia is undefeated against district competition with wins over two of the bottom teams in District 31-A, Charlotte and Woodsboro, and Falls City.Despite wins over teams the Hornets have either beaten or played close games with, Head Coach Rodney Dowell said he knows Falls City will be a challenge for Parents' Night.

"They're a very athletic football team and we're going to have to hold them," Dowell said. "They've got probably the best back we'll see all year."

Adrian Lighteard, the Bulldogs' primary ball carrier, is second in district in rushing statistics. He has 99 carries for 837 yards and averages 8.45 yards per carry. The running back has 11 rushing touchdowns so far this season, his longest being from 89 yards out.

Not only does Lighteard pose a threat on the ground, he is one of the district's top receivers this year. Lighteard has 16 catches for 238 yards and 1 touchdown.

Jordan Williams runs the Bulldog offense as quarterback and tries to spread the ball around to multiple targets. He has completed 71 of 108 passes this year for 1,007 yards and 4 touchdowns while throwing 8 interceptions. His longest pass this year went to Lighteard for a 69-yard touchdown.

Despite having a few top-district athletes, Flatonia's team offense ranks fourth. Two teams Louise has faced already this year, Charlotte and Shiner, have consistently a better attack. The Hornets defeated Charlotte 12-6 and lost to Shiner 42-7.

Dowell said Flatonia's defense will likely eliminate the big plays Louise has had in recent games. Instead of hoping to break free for a long run, the Hornets will try to run the clock with several short plays.

"As far as defensively, they've got athletes over there, so the likelihood of us busting 70-yard touchdowns (is not good)," Dowell said. "What we need to do is maintain possession and grind it out. If we get a 70-yard touchdown, we're not going to turn it down. I'm just saying, I'll take 3 yards and a cloud of dust easily. As long as we've got the ball, they don't."

Louise is hoping to rebound from a heartbreaking loss to Falls City.

Falls City 33, Hornets 29

The Hornets had a 21-13 lead over the Beavers entering the fourth quarter, but three Beaver touchdowns, including the winning score with 8 seconds left in the game gave Louise a shocking 33-29 loss.

Louise made the first score of the night on a 50-yard touchdown run by Antwon Parson. Cory Hajovsky came through with the extra point to put the Hornets up 7-0 with 9:54 left in the first quarter.

Two touchdowns and an extra point gave Falls City a 13-7 lead early in the second quarter. The Beavers could not score again, however, until the fourth quarter.

Louise rallied to take a 14-13 lead into halftime on another run by Parson, this time from 85 yards out.

Fullback Kyle Lawson ran 64-yards in the third quarter to give Louise a 21-13 lead that disappeared in the fourth quarter.

"I've got to give our kids credit," Dowell said. "We really beat them up and down the field in a lot of areas in the game. In the fourth quarter, we just made some pretty crucial mistakes."

The mistakes were mostly mental for the Hornets as Louise committed several penalties while Falls City stepped up for a great drive to finish the game.

"They caught some breaks," Dowell said. "In three separate occasions in that fourth quarter, we had them third and long and we got some silly penalties. I'd like to blame the officials, but they were legitimate penalties.

"There was a series of about 10 things that happened and if any one of those things doesn't happen, then we win that ball game. We had three penalties like that, we don't move the football on them when we get the ball back, which we had been moving the ball on them all night long and all we needed was one first down, and the fact that we adjusted our coverages and they were able to see that we adjusted our coverages and reacted to it. There were just a bunch of things like that."

The Beavers rallied with three fourth-quarter touchdowns to Louise's one, on a 46yard run by Lawson. The final score came on a 4-yard pass from the 8-yard line and sealed the win for Falls City at 33-29.

"I've got to give some credit to Falls City's kids," Dowell said. "They had plenty of opportunities to lay down and quit. They never did. It's just a mental lapse at a real crucial time. Not just one or two, but a significant number of mental lapses."

Before his team left for Falls City, Dowell said the Hornets needed to win two of their next three games in order to make the playoffs. With a loss to the Beavers, the Hornets are hoping to respond by beating Flatonia and Pettus to close out the season.

Louise is now 2-2 in district and currently in fifth place, but they are not out of the post-season yet.

"We are still in the playoff picture and it hasn't really changed," Dowell said. "We still have to win two games and we didn't say which two we had to win. Everybody knows we should have won this one and we had our opportunities to win this one."

31-A Football DISTRICT STANDINGS

DISTRICT OVERALL WL FLATONIA 3 0 5 2 183 145 SHINER 3 0 4 3 216 102 PETTUS 2 1 6 3 213 132 FALLS CITY 2 1 3 4 176 160 LOUISE 2 2 5 3 183 127 CHARLOTTE 0 4 4 4 136 199 WOODSBORO 0 4 1 7 114 286