Watson's running, Cougars defense come up big in win

Most every Averett defender was expecting Shenandoah running back Keone Kyle to get the handoff on the two-point attempt after the Hornets had trimmed the Cougars’ lead to two with 18 seconds left in the game.

When Kyle didn’t get the ball, the Cougars secondary was more than willing to take the challenge of keeping Averett ahead.

The Averett defense was able to force an incomplete pass on the two-point conversion and Anthony Squillini recovered the ensuing on-side kick attempt as the Cougars held on to a 24-22 USA South Conference victory Saturday at the Cougar Den in Danville.

“To tell you the truth, we’d thought they were going to run it,” Averett junior linebacker and former Chatham standout Logan Smyth said. “They threw it, which is good for us – our DB’s got interceptions all day. We’d had lost the cushion that we had and it was up to us to win the game.”

The Cougars (6-2, 4-1 USA South) were unable to stop the Hornets (1-7, 0-5 USA South) on Shenandoah’s final drive. The Hornets were able to go 87 yards on 11 plays in 1:50 as quarterback Vern Lunsford was able to pick apart Averett’s secondary with several dump-off passes to Kyle and a couple of strikes to Rico Wallace before hooking up with Brandon Hayes for a 15-yard touchdown.

Lunsford added a 6-yard touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter to cut a 24-9 Averett lead to eight.

Averett senior running back Dontavious Watson rushed for 117 yards – the first time this season an Averett running back eclipsed the century mark on the ground – and added two touchdowns.

Watson rushed for 62 of those yards in the first quarter and opened the scoring with a 19-yard burst two plays after Shenandoah botched a punt return and set up Averett with excellent field position.

“At halftime, we were talking about not letting up,” Watson said. “A few times in the beginning of the year, we’d come out in the second half and we’d be flat. We talked about coming out on fire, not letting up … and we’d come out with a ‘W.’”

The Cougars came out and scored twice in the third quarter. Squillini took a short pass from Cody Ladutko and worked his way through the Shenandoah defense 67 yards for a score. Watson scored his second touchdown of the day about 5 minutes later on a 6-yard rumble up the middle.

Averett’s defense forced four Shenandoah turnovers – including two interceptions of Lunsford. The Hornets quarterback finished with 232 yards passing on 18 of 29 passing.

Shenandoah answered Watson’s first touchdown early in the second quarter with a 12-yard touchdown pass from Lunsford to Kyle. Cory Gay missed the extra point, which forced the Hornets to go for two late in the fourth quarter.

“It was huge because we were chasing it the whole day,” Shenandoah coach Paul Barnes said. “You have to make all your kicks. Every time you get a chance to score, you’ve got to score. That was a good football team we played today and we should have done better, but we came up on the short end.”

Kyle finished with a game-high 154 yards rushing and added 38 yards receiving. Wallace finished with 81 yards receiving on a game-high six receptions.

Squillini added a game-high 98 yards receiving and Ladutko finished with 192 yards passing.

Averett kicker Matthew Wilson drilled a 20-yard field goal as time expired in the first half, giving the Cougars a 10-9 lead.

“It was good because they’re not the best throwing team – they like to run the football, they like to control it,” Averett coach Mike Dunlevy said. “They really don’t want to pass it, so when you get up two scores and put them in a situation where they’re throwing a little bit more. It plays into your hands as a defense. That’s where it gave you breathing room to make them have to do stuff they’re not used to doing well.”

Averett 24, Shenandoah 22
Shenandoah 0 9 0 13 - 22
Averett 7 3 14 0 - 24
First quarter
A – Watson 19 run (Wilson kick), 12:44
Second quarter
S – Kyle 12 pass from Lunsford (kick failed), 10:19
S – Gay 22 field goal, 1:23
A – Wilson 20 field goal, :00
Third quarter
A – Squillini 67 pass from Ladutko (Wilson kick), 9:51
A – Watson 6 run (Wilson kick), 4:37
Fourth quarter
S – Lunsford 6 run (Gay kick), 14:55
S – Hayes 15 pass from Lunsford (pass failed), :18
Team statistics
Shenandoah Averett
First downs 23 12
Rushes-yards 45-177 31-148
Passing yards 232 192
Passing 18-30-2 15-26-1
Total offense 409 340
Fumbles-lost 2/2 0/0
Penalties-yards 8-61 7-98
Punts-average 5-27.2 6-34.7
Time of possession 36:32 23:28
Individual statistics
Rushing: S – Kyle 31-154, Lunsford 11-10, Brown 1-9, Cordero 2-4. A – Watson 21-117, Ladutko 4-14, Dixon 1-8, McCall 1-6, M. Williams 3-5, Team 1-(-2).
Passing: S – Lunsford 18-29-2 232, Team 0-1-0 0. A – Ladutko 15-25-1 192, Team 0-1-0 0.
Receiving: S – Wallace 6-81, Brown 4-73, Kyle 4-38, Calloway 2-21, Hayes 2-19. A – Squillini 5-98, Oristian 3-33, Dixon 3-25, C. Williams 2-17, Reed 1-18, Watson 1-1.
Records: Shenandoah 1-7, 0-5 USA South; Averett 6-2, 4-1 USA South.
Nov. 7: Shenandoah at N.C. Wesleyan, 1 p.m.; Averett at Ferrum, 1 p.m.