Leopards Pass for 6 Touchdowns to Vault Past Vikings 38-8 – JV Football
Louisville 38, North Canton Hoover 8
The Louisville Leopards JV Football Team trounced the visiting North Canton Hoover Vikings 38-8 Saturday Morning at Louisville Leopards Stadium. With the victory, Louisville evens their record at 1-1 on the young season.
Quarterback Tyler Jackson passed for 5 touchdowns and he didn’t even have them all. The Leopards reached straight into the bag of tricks from the first play of the game. Jackson delivered a short toss to Runningback Daniel Kennedy who planted and threw a wide open Broc Pickens. The 65 yard touchdown pass put Louisville ahead 6-0 just 11 seconds into the contest. Pickens wasn’t finished though. Just 8 seconds of game time after that, he leaped up and pawed an interception on Hoover’s first play from scrimmage to give the ball right back to the Leopards.
The Louisville Defense also came up with big plays and made multiple fourth down stops throughout the game. None was bigger than their second quarter goal line stand on 4th-and-Goal from the 1. The Louisville defensive front stormed in to stuff the Vikings and give the ball back to the Leopards on the half yard line. In to make the play were a host of Louisville defenders including Austen Black, Nick Granitsas, Austin Griggy, and Kennedy.
Despite being backed up as far as possible, the Louisville offense remained aggressive. Wide Receiver Clayton Elder ran a streak to blow by the North Canton secondary. Jackson delivered the ball to him just past the 20 yard line and Elder ran through the open field all the way to the other endzone. The 99 1/2 yard touchdown pass is the longest known play in Leopards Football program history. The previous longest known longest play was a 98 yard touchdown run by Bill Steiner during Louisville’s 42-0 Varsity win at Sebring on September 30, 1967.
Elder had come off the field with an injury in the previous quarter when the Leopards drove inside the Hoover 10 yard line. He was far from finished though as he returned to accumulate 162 receiving yards on touchdown catches alone. Elder scored twice in the final five minutes of the fourth quarter on a 6 yard reception and a finger-tipped 57 yard catch and run touchdown that put Louisville ahead 38-0 with 2:06 left to play.
North Canton broke the shutout on the next play when Wide Receiver Brad Smith ran a Jet Sweep to the left for a 65 yard score. Fellow Receiver Grant Fucui caught the conversion pass from Quarterback Beau Burtscher to make it 38-8 with 1:43 to play. Smith also had an interception earlier in the game on defense, as did Vikings Defensive Back Chase Lamenza on a Louisville conversion try.
The Leopards special teams also made an impact despite the new rule that eliminates kickoffs below the Varsity level. Linebacker JD Spitaleri blocked a Hoover punt that was recovered by Defensive Lineman Matt Godfrey on the Vikings 20 yard line. Two plays later, Jackson lobbed a pass to the un-coverable Pickens on the right side of the endzone for a 22 yard touchdown.
Jackson also hit Kennedy for an 11 yard touchdown reception just before halftime for his second of 5 touchdown passes. Jackson followed that with a pass to Elder for Louisville’s only successful conversion try of the morning. The Leopards took a 20-0 advantage into the locker room and never looked back.
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UP NEXT: The Leopards JV will next travel to New Philadelphia to take on the Quakers on Saturday, September 8 at 10:00 AM.
Cover Photo Courtesy of Yvonne Jackson
Game Statistics
Scoring Summary
LEOPARDS 38, VIKINGS 8
Team 1-2-3-4–TOTAL
North Canton 0-0-0-8–08
Louisville 6-14-6-12–38
1st Quarter
Louisville – Broc Pickens 65 Yard Pass from Daniel Kennedy (Pass Failed) | LHS 6, HHS 0, 9:49
2nd Quarter
Louisville – Clayton Elder 99 Yard Pass from Tyler Jackson (Pass Failed) | LHS 12, HHS 0, 6:56
Louisville – Daniel Kennedy 11 Yard Pass from Tyler Jackson (Clayton Elder Pass from Tyler Jackson) | LHS 20, HHS 0, 0:51.2
3rd Quarter
Louisville – Broc Pickens 22 Yard Pass from Tyler Jackson (Pass Failed) | LHS 26, HHS 0, 4:05
4th Quarter
Louisville – Clayton Elder 6 Yard Pass from Tyler Jackson (Run Failed) | LHS 32, HHS 0, 4:45
Louisville – Clayton Elder 57 Yard Pass from Tyler Jackson (Run Failed) | LHS 38, HHS 0, 2:06
Hoover – Brad Smith 65 Yard Run (Grant Fucui Pass from Beau Burtscher) | LHS 38, HHS 8, 1:43
Records: Louisville 1-1
Leopards Team and Individual Statistics
Passing: 20 of 29 for 417 Yards, 6 TD, 1 INT
Tyler Jackson: 18 of 27 for 311 Yards, 5 TD, 1 INT
Daniel Kennedy: 2 of 2 for 106 Yards, 1 TD
Rushing: 16 Carries, 29 Yards
Gage Hartman: 6 Carries, 31 Yards
Brady Vanover: 3 Carries, 6 Yards
Tyler Jackson: 7 Carries, -8 Yards*
*3 Sacks, 18 Yards and 1 Bad Snap recovered for 11 Yard Loss
Receiving: 20 Catches, 417 Yards, 6 TD
Clayton Elder: 10 Catches, 222 Yards, 3 TD
Broc Pickens: 6 Catches, 157 Yards, 2 TD
Daniel Kennedy, 3 Catches, 32 Yards, 1 TD
Gage Hartman: 1 Catch, 6 Yards
