LEWISBURG – When one player’s athleticism transcends just about every other player on the field, or at least every player from the other team, sometimes you get results like Saturday’s.
It was the Jaylen Walker show at Lewisburg on Saturday night. The Green Dragons’ senior receiver scored five touchdowns, which accounted for 30 of Lewisburg’s 38 points, as the Green Dragons picked up their first win of the season, 38-17 over Hughesville.
“Jaylen got triple-teamed last week, but with a double team this week, he just kind of fought through it and made plays and it was awesome to see,” said Lewisburg coach Eric Wicks. “You give him a little bit of space, he has some wiggle with the speed and he’ll find a way out of there.”
Walker hauled in five passes for 219 yards and four touchdowns and also added a 61-yard punt return for a touchdown. All together, Walker accumulated 330 all-purpose yards.
“They were doing some good things up front, blitzing and keeping some guys in the box and trying to take away Jaylen with the double team and they did slow us down at times, but Jaylen just made some plays to help us get the win,” said Wicks.
Walker’s first and last touchdowns of the game were almost mirror images. His first, at the 9:21 mark of the first quarter, tied the game 7-7 as he took a short screen pass in the flat and eluded several defenders on his way to the end zone for a 43-yard touchdown.
That score was bookended by another touchdown off a receiver screen that went for 73 yards with 2:04 remaining in the fourth quarter to put a cap on a career night.
In between, nearly every time Walker touched the ball, he made a game-changing play. On the ensuing Hughesville drive after his first touchdown, the Spartans went three-and-out and punted to Walker, who returned it 61 yards for a score to put the Green Dragons up 14-7 at the 6:57 mark of the first quarter.
“We stopped almost everything else they had except #1 (Walker),” said Hughesville coach Howard Rainey. “I don’t think they did anything we weren’t expecting, except his speed was so much faster than our team. We kept telling them to punt away from him, but sometimes they just kick it thinking it’s going to go over his head or something.”
The Green Dragons extended their lead to 20-7 on the second play of the second quarter when Jett Jamieson found Walker again for a 79-yard scoring connection. Thanks in part to Walker’s exploits, Jamieson – filling in for the second straight game for injured starter Xavier Carter – completed 8-of-13 passes for 266 yards and five touchdowns.
“Jett did well tonight. He has some things he still needs to work on, but he did a good job getting the ball out on time, and getting the ball into our weapons’ hands,” said Wicks.
Hughesville cut Lewisburg’s lead to 20-10 on a 31-yard field goal by Connor Anstadt at the 5:11 mark of the second quarter that capped a 13-play, 66-yard drive that took 6:33 off the clock.
Lewisburg would answer right back, however, as they put together a 10-play, 65-yard drive that took 4:21 and was capped when Jamieson put up a jump ball in the corner of the end zone that Walker hauled in between a pair of defenders for a 12-yard touchdown reception with :50 remaining in the first half.
The Green Dragons would then extend that lead to 32-10 with 6:42 left in the third quarter as Jamieson connected with Owen Fellon for an 11-yard touchdown pass. That was set up by a 37-yard punt return by Walker that started Lewisburg’s drive at the Hughesville 11.
The Spartans answered with another long, methodical drive of nine plays for 61 yards that took just over five minutes and ended with a three-yard touchdown run by Chase Shrawder to make it 32-17 late in the third quarter.
“Our offense started kicking it up, finally. We’re starting to move the ball. We got lots of yards, finally,” said Rainey. “We got a lot of good things to take away from tonight. We had four freshmen starting, so we got young guys out there and they played their hearts out.”
Later in the fourth quarter, down by two scores, Hughesville advanced all the way from its own 14 to the Lewisburg 26 and had an opportunity to cut it to a one-possession game before being stopped on downs. Two plays later, Walker capped the scoring with his fifth touchdown of the night.
Lewisburg 38, Hughesville 17
Hughesville (0-3) 7 3 7 0 – 17
Lewisburg (1-2) 14 12 6 6 – 38
First quarter
11:42 – (H) Aviel Harry 60-yard pass from Nicholas Stubbs (Anstadt kick), 1-60, :18
9:21 – (L) Jaylen Walker 43-yard pass from Jett Jamieson (Jamieson kick), 4-71, 1:18
6:57 – (L) Jaylen Walker 61-yard punt return (Jamieson kick)
Second quarter
11:44 – (L) Jaylen Walker 79-yard pass from Jett Jamieson (kick failed), 3-70, 1:41
5:11 – (H) Connor Anstadt 31-yard field goal, 13-66, 6:33
:50 – (L) Jaylen Walker 12-yard pass from Jett Jamieson (run failed), 10-65, 4:21
Third quarter
6:42 – (L) Owen Fellon 11-yard pass from Jett Jamieson (pass failed), 2-11, :50
1:39 – (H) Chase Shrawder 3-yard run (Anstadt kick), 9-61, 5:03
Fourth quarter
2:04 – (L) Jaylen Walker 73-yard pass from Jett Jamieson (kick failed), 2-74, :37
Statistics
H L
First downs 14 13
Rushes-net yards 40-199 30-60
Passing yardage 113 266
Passing 5-16-1-1 8-13-5-1
Fumbles-lost 3-1 1-0
Penalties-yards 5-35 9-60
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Hughesville: Chase Shrawder (12-51-1), Nicholas Stubbs (9-74), Connor Miller (8-34), Connor Anstadt (8-32), Alphonzo Smith (2-6), Carson Shoemaker (1-2); Lewisburg: Ethan Coleman (11-49), Owen Fellon (8-24), Jett Jamieson (4-(-16)), Anthony Morgan (3-10), Team (1-(-2)), Jaylen Walker (1-0), Drake Osunde (1-(-5))
PASSING: Hughesville: Nicholas Stubbs (4-13-106-1-1), Connor Anstadt (1-3-7-0-0); Lewisburg: Jett Jamieson (8-13-266-5-1)
RECEIVING: Hughesville: Connor Miller (2-39), Aviel Harry (1-60-1), Chase Shrawder (1-7), Connor Anstadt (1-7); Lewisburg: Jaylen Walker (5-219-4), Drake Osunde (2-36), Owen Fellon (1-11-1)