Howard defense struggles in 47-7 region loss against West Laurens

The start was so good, from a three-and-out on defense to the first pass from the new quarterback going for 60 yards and a touchdown.

That certainly didn’t foreshadow the rest of the night, during which little went right for Howard as West Laurens rolled to a 47-7 win at Thompson Stadium in a GHSA Region 4-3A game.

Howard head coach Trey Porter said it was pretty clearly his most frustrating game since taking over before the 2024 season and inheriting a senior-oriented team.

“They looked up to those guys because they watched them make a lot of plays,” Porter said. “Now, it’s their turn to do so, but we only play two seniors on the offense.

“We’re asking kids to grow up and be leaders right now on and off the field.”

Just days after transferring from Mount de Sales, Zavion DeShazier got the start at quarterback, and on his third play from scrimmage, he fired a strike downfield to Kingsley Ware for a 60-yard touchdown less than two minutes into the game.

“After that is where the players got to kick in, and momentum’s got to happen,” Porter said. “Players have got to make plays. Right now, we’re struggling in that area.”

West Laurens (3-0, 1-0 in the region) had already had enough.

“I feel like our team played with a little bit of a chip on their shoulder,” West Laurens head coach Kip Burdette said. “I think you saw physical football. It wasn’t always clean, but I think it was really physical.

“We wanted to physically beat them.”

Basically running somebody not a quarterback out of the shotgun, the Raiders started rolling behind speedster Ty Cummings, a 5-foot-9, 180-pound package of a blur.

“He’s the best player in the region,” Porter said. “When the ball gets in his hands, he’s very dynamic. He’s a very fast kid, qualifies for state in track and field. We don’t have anybody that can match his speed.”

Aided by a Howard (1-2, 0-1 in the region) roughing-the-passer penalty on a third-and-9 interception, the Raiders scored on their second possession. Cummings went up the middle from 23 yards out to tie it with 6:09 left in the first quarter.

West Laurens scored on its next drive, going 66 yards on eight plays as two-way standout Shannon Adkins scored on an 8-yard run.

Howard moved the ball with help from West Laurens and despite its own mistakes, but a fourth-and-2 pass sailed through some hands.

Not for the last time.

“We definitely had a lot of drops,” Porter said. “Let’s take those gloves off, let’s catch the football. Let’s chuck it, and when we catch it, let’s get vertical.”

Porter expects that to improve as DeShazier works more with the receivers.

West Laurens then drove 61 yards, the final 12 from Cummings through some missed tackles, and it was 27-7 with 1:06 left in the half.

The 2025 version of the game was far removed from the Raiders’ 28-27 win last year. It was the biggest margin of victory in the series since the Raiders’ 43-7 win in 2019.

“We defended a two-point conversion last year,” Burdette said. “We got down early, similar to last week. And responded, with an exclamation point.”

The third quarter started in similar fashion for the Huskies. West Laurens fumbled the punt and Howard took over on the Raiders’ 45, only for Adkins to pick off a Huskies pass and go 65 yards down the left side for a touchdown.

Howard got into West Laurens territory but failed on fourth down, and five plays later — aided by an offsides on fourth and 4 — Braylen Robinson joined the scoring from 6 yards out, a play after his 36-yard run.

The Huskies were again on the Raiders side on the ensuing drive, but a fourth-and-5 pass deep was picked off at the 10.

Branden Brooks took the rock all 90 yards the opposite way on the first play from scrimmage, the last play of the third quarter.

West Laurens ran 35 times for 408 yards, led by 203 yards on 18 carries by Cummings and 116 yards on 8 carries for Adkins.

Adkins led a swarming defense that held Howard to 162 yards on 39 carries and 88 yards through the air with two interceptions.

The young and somewhat-banged-up Huskies got a postgame monologue of nearly 20 minutes on the field afterward, and there seemed to be different tones of anger afterward around the locker room.

Porter must find some answers to those kinds of things. There were no plans to pop in the game tape.

“No, definitely, I don’t want to watch this one,” he said. “It’s two weeks in a row where I don’t want to watch it.

“Last week, we won an ugly game. This week, we got blown out in an ugly game. This was the first time since I’ve been here where I don’t feel like we competed the entire 48 minutes … We were senior heavy last year. We’re still a young group, but you know, we have to produce right now.”