Louisburg runs over Piper to stay perfect

Louisburg senior Alex Dunn sheds a couple Piper tacklers for a 10-yard touchdown run during Friday’s road contest at Piper High School. The Wildcats rushed for 384 yards as a team and rolled the Pirates 29-7.

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KANSAS CITY, Kan. – The game plan was a pretty simple one.

It was to run the ball, run it again and then run it some more. The plan wasn’t necessarily creative, but it didn’t have to be. It worked to perfection, especially in the first half.

Louisburg ran up and down the field on Piper Friday and scored 23 first-half points on its way to a 29-7 win at Piper High School. The win gives the Wildcats three straight victories to start the season.

“We challenged them to be more aggressive in the first half, pin their ears back and be physical,” Louisburg coach Kyle Littrell said. “I thought they responded well and I was happy to see the way we came out.”

The Wildcats (3-0) racked up 384 yards on the ground and a bulk of that was thanks to Thomas San Agustin. The Louisburg junior running back carried the ball 38 times, tallied 249 yards and a touchdown.

San Agustin had some big holes to run through thanks to his offensive line of Anders Vance, Dustyn Rizzo, Jarod Woodward, Garrett Lowry, T.J. Dover, tight end Grant Harding and fullback Alex Dunn. San Agustin also added several yards after contact as he became difficult for the Pirates to bring down.

“Thomas is starting to learn,” Littrell said. “Every time he plays, the blinders are becoming a little wider and a little bit wider. I love the fact that he always finishes runs moving forward. The thing with him is that he has to stop getting in the air because you end up getting hurt when you get in the air like that. He is improving every day in practice, he is improving out here and he is doing good work.”

Louisburg made a statement on its opening drive. The Wildcats marched down the field and took more than eight minutes off the clock and scored on a 15-play drive.

Dunn, who finished the game with 82 yards on the ground, ended the drive with a 10-yard touchdown run to give the Wildcats an early 7-0 lead, and they took off from there.

“That first drive was really key for us,” Littrell said. “We came out and put together a long drive that ate up about eight minutes of the first quarter. That was all just linemen blocking hard and running backs running hard.”

Piper started driving down the field its first drive, but the Wildcat defense came up big as senior Mitchell McLellan intercepted a pass. Louisburg would drive down the field itself, but turned the ball over on downs at the 1-yard line.

The Wildcats still managed to find points, however. Dover broke through the Piper offensive line and recorded a safety to make it 9-0.

On the ensuing kickoff, senior Cole Kramer had a long kickoff return that set up a 35-yard touchdown run from San Agustin to make it 15-0. After the Wildcat defense forced a Piper punt, Louisburg added another touchdown right before halftime.

Louisburg quarterback Austin Terry found McLellan for a 13-yard touchdown. Terry then faked the extra point and ran it in for two points to give the Wildcats a 23-0 halftime lead.

The Wildcats tacked on a touchdown late in the fourth quarter when Terry scored on an 8-yard run to all but seal the win for the Wildcats.

Defensively, the Wildcats did their job as they held Piper to just 171 total yards of offense and gave up just the late touchdown in the third quarter. It was a big turnaround after giving up 42 points and nearly 500 yards of total offense the week before against Eudora.

“Our defense heard it all week long about the 42 points we gave up last week,” Littrell said. “Our defensive coaches challenged them. Linebackers played better and our tackling got a little bit better as well, but just like on offense, we aren’t where we want to be yet. We are 3-0 and that is great, but we have to pay attention to detail.”

McLellan led the Wildcats with five tackles, while Terry, Rizzo and Kramer each added four. San Agustin registered a sack and Harding added an interception for the Wildcat defense.

After two weeks on the road, the Wildcats return to Wildcat Stadium, which is also homecoming. Louisburg will face rival Paola for a 7 p.m. kickoff Friday.

The Wildcats have lost four straight to the Panthers, including the last two years that were decided by a touchdown or less.

“If you can’t get jacked up for this one then you don’t have a heartbeat,” Littrell said. “I remember, our coaching staff remembers, and our players remember how the last two years went down. That is going to fuel our week of practice.”

 

LOUISBURG                7             16           0             6 – 29

PIPER                           0             0             7             0 – 7

First quarter

L: Alex Dunn 10 run (Dunn kick)

Second quarter

L: T.J. Dover safety

L: Thomas San Agustin 35 run (kick failed)

L: Mitchell McLellan 13 pass from Austin Terry (Terry run)

Third quarter:

P: 10 run (kick good)

Fourth quarter

L: Terry 8 run (kick failed)

 

STATISTICS

RUSHING: Thomas San Agustin 38-249; Alex Dunn 15-82; Austin Terry 10-53

PASSING: Austin Terry 5-9-43-1

RECEIVING: Mitchell McLellan 2-24; Thomas San Agustin 2-9; Grant Harding 1-10.