Salem Quakers at Louisville Leopards 2011 Football Highlights

By Leopard Nation · Published October 21, 2011 · Updated July 1, 2018

Louisville 21, Salem 7

A goal line stand and a 95 yard touchdown drive capped off by the second Joey Duckworth to Trent Ohman scoring connection of the evening helped the Louisville Leopards defeat the Salem Quakers 21-7 on Senior Night Friday at Louisville Leopards Stadium.

After two penalties against the Leopards before the opening kickoff, Louisville got their first break of the game. A short squib kick turned into a free for all and Louisville’s Aaron Carter fell on it giving the Leps the first possession of the game.

The Leopards did not take advantage of the opportunity as the Quakers forced a three-and-out. But the Quakers handed out an early Halloween treat when punt returner Jake Carner fumbled the football and Billy Lairson recovered on the Salem 29 for the Leps. However, Louisville would again fail to capitalize on a golden chance to score when a fumbled snap on a field goal attempt led to a turn over on downs.

Both offenses looked anemic in the first quarter. Salem punted the ball away and Dillon Stertzbach usedsome shifty moves to bring the ball again to the Salem 29 yard line after a 25 yard return. Louisville went 4-and-out and Salem followed suit but going three-and-out.

Louisville turned the ball over on downs on their final possession of the first quarter. Alex Schooley looked to punt, but the Quakers punt block team closed in on him. He decided to try to run for the first down and came up plenty short. Salem took advantage of the field position driving 43 yards in just 4 plays. Runningback Austin Noel capped off the drive by breaking a tackle and scoring from 10 yards out on the first play of the second quarter. Noel would finish the night with 124 yards on 25 carries. Salem led 7-0.

The Leopards responded right back as Duckworth found a wide open Gavin Lovejoy just 1:20 later. Two Salem defenders collided in trying to tackle Lovejoy and he sprinted the rest of the way to the house for the 53 yard score. It was a brand new ball game at 7-7.

After two more scoreless possessions, Leopard defensive back Garrett Yoder jumped a Carner pass giving Louisville only their third interception of the season and setting up shop at the Quaker 20-yard-line. Then, Duckworth found Stertzbach cutting over the middle a few plays later for what appeared to be a touchdown. But, the ref ruled him down on the 1-yard-line. It was first and goal for the Leopards.

One yard to go, no problem right? Wrong. Duckworth fumbled what appeared to be a fake hand-off to runningback Lucas Poyser. Salem defensive lineman John Tafe bolted through and returned the fumble to the 33-yard-line. Another chance blown.

A few runs by Noel put Salem in Louisville territory. But, the Quakers just could not contain Leopards defensive end Aaron Reynolds. He brought down Carner for a solo sack on first down, snuffed out a trick play with a tackle diving from behind on second down, and he along with Jake Sluss converged to bring down Carner for another sack on third down. Reynolds effort helped keep the score knotted at 7-7 going into the break.

Louisville’s offense came out of the locker room red hot. Duckworth completed 5-of-6 passes including a 3rd-and-14 to Billy Lairson on a 9 play, 58 yard drive. A 16 yard pass from Duckworth to Ohman capped off the possession giving Louisville a 13-7 lead. But a blocked extra point left the door open for Salem.

However, the door closed once again on the Quakers with a sign that read “Reynolds Office.” After driving to midfield, Carner was again greeted by Reynolds in the backfield for a sack on 4th-and-2. It was Reynolds third sack of the evening and Louisville was sitting pretty at midfield with a six point advantage.

It didn’t take long for the Quakers to get the ball back though. On the second play of the drive, Duckworth was picked off by Quaker sophomore Haeden Panezott. However, Reynolds once again made his home in the Quaker backfield and he invited Jon Crank to the party as both made plays to push Salem backwards and force them to punt.

Several good runs by Noel and a 15 yard late hit penalty against the Leopards helped Salem drive all the way inside the 10 on their next possession. The Leopard defense hung tough though, stopping the Quakers short of their destination on the first three downs. On a 4th-and-goal from the 5, a wide open Salem receiver tripped and then failed to make the catch. This ended a Quaker drive that took 6:57 off the clock and left just 5:39 remaining in the game.

Louisville took over on their own 5-yard-line and Duckworth re-found his rhythm. Mimicking the opening drive of the second half, Duckworth again completed 5 of 6 passes, this time every completion found the hands of Ohman. The combination hooked up 9 times on the night for 113 yards. This included a 28 yard completion and a game-clinching 20 yard score with 1:19 remaining that capped off a 10 play, 95 yard drive. Duckworth followed up the touchdown by finding Lovejoy on the right side of the endzone for the two-point conversion to give Louisville a 21-7 advantage.

A sack by Trevor Meredith and a pressure throw forced by Charles Beamer finished off the Quakers last drive. One final run by Louisville was followed by the Seniors ringing the victory bell one final time at Louisville Leopards Stadium.

NEXT UP: The Leopards will next travel to Canton South to take on the Wildcats in the final game of the regular season on Friday, October 28 at 7:00 PM. Be sure to come back to Leopard Nation later in the week to get an in-depth preview on the game and series history.