By T. Scott Boatright
It’s become a hallmark of Lincoln Preparatory School performances in jamboree football games — a slow start followed by the Panthers slowly and surely getting better as the game progressed.
And that’s the way things played out for the Panthers in a 14-0 loss to Red River Saturday at the Bayou Jamb at Joe Aillet Stadium on the Louisiana Tech University campus..
Red River took the opening drive and marched 70 yards on 13 carries.
The Bulldogs slowly but surely wore down the Panthers with a “big back attack” led by a hefty dose of 6-0, 245-pound senior running back Leonard Mosley, who featured deceptive speed and footwork for a rusher his size.
“You don’t see a back that big and that strong very often on our level,” said Panthers coach Glen Hall about Mosely. “That’s a college-sized back. He’s a defensive tackle in there playing running. It’s actually a good thing facing a guy like that in a jamboree game that really doesn’t count when you get down to it.”
Mosley ran the ball nine times for 62 yards and two touchdowns, the second coming as slashed and danced through the Panthers defense for a 19-yard TD run with 1:17 remaining. Mosley also had a 10-yard touchdown called back due to a holding penalty on the Bulldogs on a drive that ended with a missed field goal for Red River.
“Now that we’ve faced that kind of running back, hopefully we learned something and can handle that better if it happens again in the regular season. But you really don’t see that kind of big and powerful running back with that kind of surprising speed and those kinds of moves in 1A football. So we’re going to learn from it.”
The Panthers were led offensively by running back Chauncy Harper, who carried the ball six times for 17 yards before leaving the game early in the second half. Harper also had an interception for Lincoln Prep’s defense in the first half.
“The medics said nothing is broken, it looks like he just has bruised ribs, so I’ll think he’s going to be OK,” Hall said of Harper, who was carried off on a stretcher headed to the hospital to be checked out during the game.
Hall knows what losing Harper meant to his team the remainder of the contest.
“He’s my bell cow,” Hall said of his senior. “He’s been here playing for us for five years. We’ll need him to step up and do the things he’s got to do to carry this team.”
The fact that Hall kept things basic offensively showed what his attitude is about handling jamboree games.
“We kept it vanilla,” Hall said about the Panthers’ offensive play calling. “I don’t want our first week opponent to know what we’re going to do. We got what we wanted and needed out of this jamboree game. We’ll be ready for the next game, and I promise you, we’ll go better.”
Penalties, including multiple delay of game penalties, proved costly to the Panthers throughout the contest.
“They were all silly things that we shouldn’t have done,” Hall said. “Just trying to grab and hold and not moving our feet correctly.
“We didn’t execute on blocks. We’d do some good things and then on third down and short we missed a block or got called for holding. Just amature mistakes — mental mistakes — we’ve got to fix before next week.”
Lincoln Prep quarterback Braylin Mayfield recorded both of his completions on four pass attempts on the final drive of the game before time expired, hitting Jamarion Buggs for five yards and Brandon Heard for 10.
Hall said conditioning will be a focus during upcoming workouts for his Panthers.
“I saw that we can play defense,” Hall said. “In the end we got a little fatigued as that big boy kept running. But I’m going to fix that. I guarantee we’re not going to be tired anymore. I’m going to take over the running, and I’m going to go old school. We’re going to get in better shape.”
Hall said that while he didn’t like what he saw, it’s too early to be concerned.
“I’m not very disappointed,” Hall said. “I just know we can do better. I didn’t know what we would do today and I did want our players to come out and put on a better show.
“But anytime you get scored on in the final minutes of a game and lose 14-0, you know you competed. We’re going to learn from this and move on.”
Lincoln Prep will open the 2022 regular season on Friday at Madison Parish.
