The Louisa County High School football team has won at least seven games in four straight seasons.
For the first time in program history, the Lions have also won a playoff game in back-to-back seasons.
The 2011 Lions had a new head coach in Jon Meeks, a new quarterback in Zack Jackson after the late transfer of Kire Worley, new starters at all eleven positions on defense, and eight new starters on offense.
On top of that, an earthquake shook central Virginia August 23, destroying Louisa County High School and forcing the Lions to cancel their season and home opener against Eastern View.
"It's difficult trying to get going after some of the stuff, but you've got to make the best of what you got," said senior captain/middle linebacker/offensive tackle Josh Lemon. "That goes for life and everything. We'll make it work. We have made it work."
"We had a lot of question marks coming into that season, and they came out firing on all cylinders," said Meeks. "I'm very proud of that senior class for doing what they did."
"Everything's running smoothly right now," said senior captain/quarterback/free safety Zack Jackson. "Just to have that game, just to get that one game back, it just shows progress. I think that's what a lot of the community loves to see is progress from the earthquake."
Despite all that, Louisa finished 7-4, making the playoffs for the third straight year.
And this year?
"We have a whole lot of spots to fill," said Meeks, the 32-year-old former defensive coordinator at Louisa under head coach Mark Fischer. "We took a big hit in 2010, and then last year, we filled them with a lot of seniors, so we're kind of doing that again."
Louisa graduated eight defensive starters and five offensive starters from last year's team, including All-Jefferson District first-team running back and second-team linebacker Andre Mealy and all-state lineman John (J.D.) Dennis.
"J.D. was...he brought a lot of the hype to the team, and I've looked up to Andre since I was playing in middle school, so it's different without them," said Lemon.
"I coached Andre Mealy for four years on varsity, four-year starter," said Meeks. "You don't replace an Andre Mealy. They don't come around that often, but we got a whole lot of hungry little scatbacks that want that two-back spot. The great thing is I got some serious competition at that spot, and they know it."
Jackson enters his second season as the starting quarterback of the Lions. The senior earned second-team all-district as a running back in 2011 in Louisa's run-first offense.
"I'm confident in my team that's coming up, and I'm confident in my ability to help out my team," said Jackson, who also earned first-team all-district as a defensive back in 2011. "We're starting to even out everything. We're usually a bruiser team, run the ball a lot. This year, we're actually going to try to air it out a little bit."
"I would say he's throwing a better ball right now then at any point last season," said Meeks. "It's not even a comparison on the throwing. He looks like a whole different kid back there, and we call know he can run the ball. He just added a whole another element that's got me very excited."
Junior wide receivers Raheem "Peanut" Johnson (second-team all-district in 2011) and Deion Johnson join Jackson on offense and in the defensive backfield. Both Raheem and Deion (team captain this year) earned second-team all-JD as defensive backs last season.
The team wants another JD title.
"What we're trying to do is get a district," said Lemon. "We took a year off last year getting the district championship."
"We're looking forward to getting the district banner this year," said Jackson. "That's just our goal. Everyone has one."
"They want to hang the banner up," said Meeks. "These seniors want to go out on a high note. They want to take what the senior class last year kept us in the right direction. They want to have something to hang their hat on. The dream is to have a playoff game here. We're going to try our best to make that happen."
Louisa, which has won the Jefferson District title four times (2004, 2005, 2006, 2010) opens the season at home against Eastern View, the team they were supposed to face to open the 2011 season, on August 24 at 7:30 in The Jungle.
Along with Mealy and Dennis, Louisa also graduated first-team All-Jefferson District punter Codey Schroeder and first-team All-JD tight end Michael Cook.
Senior captain/center/defensive tackle Cody Tucker returns to help anchor an offensive line that has three starters back and four players with lots of game experience.
54 players started the season at Louisa's Midnight Madness practice July 30 as the team is filling four starting linebacker spots, three starting defensive line spots, and a starting cornerback spot.
Louisa County's JV team won the district title last season.
