By T. Scott Boatright
The numbers don’t play in the Panthers favor, but Lincoln Preparatory School head football coach Chaunce Davison refuses to pay attention.
Davison’s Panthers play host to a team that Lincoln Prep has never defeated as they play host to Class 1A No. 1 Haynesville in a game kicking off at 7 p.m. today on Panthers Field.
Since opening in 2016, Lincoln Prep has lost to Haynesville seven straight times, including a 45-6 road loss last year.
The Golden Tornado reached the Division Nonselect championship game last year before falling to South Plaquemine 20-7.
Lincoln Prep reached the Division IV Select School playoffs only to fall 14-0 at Central Catholic.
But Davison has thrown the numbers out of the window. All he’s worried about is seeing effort and pride from his Tigers, who stand at 1-3 coming off a frustrating 35-28 home loss to Jonesboro-Hodge last week.
And any so-called moral victory isn’t on Davison’s mind at this point either.
“We want to win,” Davison said. “There’s no doubt about that. We want to win. We want to set it on fire if we can.
“But most of all, I just want us to compete until the last second. I don’t care what’s on the scoreboard and what it says. I don’t care what’s going on. I just want to compete — play football. From start to finish. That’s what we want to do.”
Davison expects to see that same mindset against Haynesville
“I told them that these are the games they should live for,” Davison said. “These games are good because they show you who you are. It’s going to be a challenge. We know that. We want that.
“The word of the week is competition — compete. The same way God made them, he made us. So, we’re just going to come play.”
Davison hopes reshuffling his offensive might help spark his Panthers against what he knows will be a big challenge in the Golden Tornado.
“We’ve made some changes on the O-line,” Davison said. “Hopefully we’ve beefed it up some. We moved Jakobe (Jones) to center, and that should be a good thing right there. Gives us a little more beef right there in the middle.
“The thing is, we’ve had some problems with our center snaps. Some growing pains with the two young centers we were using. They just need a little time to learn, both physically and mentally. So hopefully by doing this, we can get better snaps and do a better job of pass blocking and opening running holes up the middle. Jakobe is a veteran guy and a big guy (6-3, 380). Hopefully moving him back inside will help with our center snaps and our blocking.”
Lincoln Prep’s defensive secondary is one of the team’s strengths, including junior Josiah Spann, who was a force on both sides of the ball last week with multiple pass breakups and a pair of receptions for 60 yards, including a 50-yard touchdown.
“Josiah’s a good cover guy,” Davison said. “He did most of his work on offense last week, but he can help in the secondary. He comes from a family of athletes where anything those kids do doesn’t shock me.”
Sophomore Jabari Levingston has also become a force in the Panthers defensive secondary, leading Lincoln Prep with 11 tackles, including one behind the line of scrimmage, last week while adding a pair of interceptions, including a pick six he took 72 yards to pay dirt.
“Having a kid like Jabari, who also plays running back and punt, is big,” Davison said. “It’s huge. This is his first year playing football. I’m just happy to see him have this success early on in his (football) career.
“He’s the kind of kid who, if he’s playing ping-pong, he’d probably be good at that, too. He’s going to give it everything he’s got. And that’s what I want to see, what I want to see from every player on this team. The will to compete. The drive to keep getting better.”
And with young talent like that, Davison believes anything is possible, including shocking the world with an upset over a perennial powerhouse like Haynesville.
“We’ve shown flashes,” Davison said. “I believe in this team. I think they need to show they believe in themselves. And they can show it. I think it’s there. I think it’s something that can be done. Why not us? Why can’t we shock the world? What it takes is us believing in ourselves.”
