By T. Scott Boatright
Halfway through the 2025 season, the Lincoln Prep Panthers find themselves facing an uphill challenge at 1-4 overall and 1-2 in District 1-1A action.
Panthers coach Chaunce Davison knows what’s at stake as his team hits the road to play another district game kicking off at 7 p.m. today at Ringgold.
“This game is very important,” Davison said. “It’s important for our mentality. We need to go out and play good ball. We need this win.”
Last week the Panthers lost their third straight game at home against No. 1 Haynesville, but the Panthers fought from start to finish in the 55-19 defeat to the perennial Class 1A powerhouse.
Davison is hoping that fight will carry over tonight against the Redskins.
“We’ve had some good practices this week,” Davison said. “The team has practiced with energy. We just have to keep it going. We have to focus and just keep working to get better with every snap of the football. We just have to keep fighting.”
Ringgold stands at 2-3 overall and 1-2 in district play but has some momentum after taking a 40-13 home win over Block last week.
“They’re athletic,” Davison said about the Redskins. They can catch the football. They throw the ball deep. They’ll take a shot anytime.”
But Davison feels the Panthers have a defensive secondary that matches up pretty well against Ringgold’s high-powered passing attack.
“We have some good DBs that are capable of keeping (Ringgold) from doing too much damage,” Davison said. “But we have to be disciplined. We need to be where we need to be and carry out our coverages and take care of our responsibilities.
“If we can do that, we’ll be all right.”
While Panthers defensive back Jaylen Huntley might be one of the smallest players on the field, he can make some pretty big hits as he showed last week against Haynesville.
Davison hopes to see more of that this week against Ringgold.
“He’s starting to play like the senior he’s supposed to play like,” Davison said of Huntley. “He’s one of the fastest guys we have and make some good, tough hits last week. I hope that carries over this week, because we’re going to need it.”
Davison said a key to slowing Ringgold’s passing attack is to keep his offense on the field for as long as possible.
“What we need to do is try to keep their offense off the field. We need ball control. We need to run the football and take care of business.”
A key in this game will be Lincoln Preps offensive and defense lines, led by seniors Jakobe Jones and Ryan Randolph.
“Defensively, we’re going to try to get to their quarterback,” Davison said. “If we can go ahead and rush him and make him get the ball out of his hand before he wants to. I think that will help our secondary make some good plays.
“It’s not that we’re going to do anything we haven’t done. We’re just trying to perfect what we do best. We’re trying to get the kids to establish their identity — who we are. And we want that to be a tough, determined football team.”
Offensively, Jones and Randolph are keys toward making that happen.
“Jakobe changes the line of scrimmage,” Davison said. “He’s a guy that comes off the ball and changes the line of scrimmage. There’s not too many people who can get past him, or block him, when he decides to do what he needs to do.
“Ryan is the same way. He can handle anybody physically. They just need to come off the ball and do their thing. They just need to work and apply themselves.”
Davison said he’s urging his team not to get wrapped up in frustrations that have cost them in the first half of the season and focus on things one play at a time.
“We need focus from the opening kickoff until the final seconds run off the clock,” Davison said. “We did a decent job of that last week against one of the best teams in the state year after year. We knew what we were facing last week and we know what we are facing this week.
“Ringgold is a good team, and if we don’t focus, we won’t do what we need to do, and that’s get a win. I believe in this team. I believe in our players. What we’re trying to do is to get them to believe in themselves, listen to us and do what they need to do to win. I think they can do that. But we’re going to have to focus and execute.”
