By T. Scott Boatright
One yard forward, two yards back.
It was simply that kind of game for the Lincoln Preparatory School Panthers.
“Old Mo” danced back and forth across the sidelines seemingly more times than Grambling State University’s Orchesis Dance Troupe has performed at the Texas State Fair Classics and Bayou Classics combined, but as the final seconds ticked off the clock Thursday night, momentum was on the Jonesboro-Hodge sideline and the Tigers escaped with a 36-28 win at Panthers Field.
Momentum started out dancing with the Panthers, as on the game’s opening possession, Lincoln Prep defensive back Jabari Levingston picked off a Jonesboro-Hodge pass and raced it 72 yards for a score before Brysen Slate ran in a two-point conversion for a 8-0 lead only 2:32 into the contest.
And on the ensuing series, Levingston picked off another Jonesboro-Hodge pass on an identical pass pattern.
But momentum jumped over the Tigers’ sideline early in the second quarter as Jonesboro-Hodge running back Lonte’vious Burns ran toward the right sideline before coming to a sudden and complete stop before changing directions to the left and scoring on a 9-yard run to cut the Lincoln Prep lead to 8-6 at the 10:30 mark of the second quarter after a failed two-point pass attempt.
The Panthers were held to a three-and-out on the ensuing possession before a bad snap forced Slate, the punter, to try to run with it.
But Slate was stopped for a one-yard loss before the Tigers scored on a nine-yard run on the next play and added a two-point conversion pass to move on top 14-8 with 8:15 left in the first half.
“We’re just not getting the snaps back (to both the quarterback and punter),” Davison said about multiple costly snaps for his Panthers. “We have two centers and they’re both young. Both are freshmen. It’s just one of those things. Growing pains. It is what it is.”
It looked like the Tigers were going to add to their lead with a little more than three minutes remaining before intermission before Zion Hicks picked off a JHHS pass three yards deep in the Tigers’ end zone and returned it 103 yards the other way for a score that tied that game at 14-14 with 3:18 on the game clock.
The Tigers drove down inside the Lincoln Prep 5-yard line with 1:03 remaining in the second quarter, but they had used all three of their first-half timeouts early, and the clock ran out before they could find paydirt to keep the score knotted up at 14-14 at intermission.
Lincoln Prep had a punt blocked on the first possession of the second half, but a Jonesboro-Hodge player picked the ball up before fumbling it away, giving possession right back to the Panthers at their own 24.
While seeing Trey Spann turn in a big game isn’t anything new, junior Josiah Spann, Trey’s brother, turned in one of the better nights of his football career, making several pass breakups and hauling in 12-yard catch on the play Hicks lofted a pass that Spann turned around to face his quarterback, making a leaping catch before turning around and taking it for a 50-yard score that put the Panthers on top 20-14 with 8:30 remaining in the third quarter.
“It’s always been set for him to do that,” Davison said of Josiah Spann. “That’s what he does. He can catch the ball. He did that all summer. That was a good thing about the game.”
After Lincoln Prep held the Tigers to a three-and-out on the ensuing possession to force a punt on the ensuing possession, the Panthers took over deep in their own territory.
But on third-and-12 from the Panthers; 5-yard line, Hicks faced heavy pressure standing in his own end zone and fired a pass to the ground.
After a short conference game officials ruled the play a safety because of illegal grounding in the end zone to cut Lincoln Prep’s lead to 20-16 with 5:55 left in the third quarter.
Fifty seconds later the Tigers scored on a 1-yard run that put them back in front 22-20.
After forcing another three-and-out for the Panthers, the Tigers scored on a 40-yard pass play that stretched their lead to 29-20 with 3:10 remaining in the third quarter.
“We’d have a positive play, and then we’d have negative plays, and those negative plays hurt,” Davison said. “They put in holes. We were undisciplined, just doing stuff you can’t do in football and expect to win. Penalties. Personal fouls. Bad snaps. Just stuff like that.”
The Panthers regained some momentum of their own on the ensuing possession, with Hicks connecting with Trey Spann on a 13-yard scoring strike before the duo hooked up again for a two-point conversion pass that cut the Tigers’ advantage to 29-28 with 25 seconds remaining in the third stanza.
But “Old Mo” then jumped back over to the opposing sideline as Jonesboro-Hodge countered with nine-play, 68-yard possession that chewed 5:16 off the clock to give the Tigers the game’s final score with 7:08 remaining.
Lincoln Prep drove into Tiger territory in the game’s final minutes, but a fourth-and-three stop with 34 seconds left on the clock sent the Tigers into victory formation as they knelt on the ball on the game’s final play.
“I felt like it shouldn’t have been like that,” Davison said. “If we take care of some plays, do what we are supposed — what we were told — to do, it could have been different. It’s just one of those things. We have to learn what we’ve been told. Just believe in what we’re doing. That’s it. We just need to believe in what we’re doing.
“We have to stop the negative stuff, everything that’s negative. And just keep fighting. Every play, not just some plays.”
Next up for the Panthers, now 1-3, is a home game next week against Haynesville, which stands at 3-0 before facing Plain Dealing tonight in a neutral site contest.
