By T. Scott Boatright
The Lincoln Preparatory School football team will be looking to do something it hasn’t accomplished since late last season as the Panthers play at Glenbrook in a game set to kick off at 7 p.m. today.
It’s been since the last three regular-season games last year that Lincoln Prep has notched three consecutive wins.
And that came after a 24-20 home loss to Glenbrook.
The Panthers will try to do just that coming off a 42-0 win at Ringgold last week to move to 2-4 overall and 1-2 in District 1-1A.
Lincoln Prep coach Chaunce Davison said his Panthers are raring to try and make it two straight as they take on the Apaches, who stand at 3-3 overall and 2-2 in district play.
“They’ve looked all right (in practice) this week,” Davison said about his Panthers. “We’ve just been working on reviewing our plays and trying to make sure everybody knows what everybody is supposed to do. Everybody’s been coming to practice and giving some good energy, so we’re just ready to play football. We’re ready to see what we can do against Glenbrook.”
Sophomore Jabari Levingston has been a force for the Panthers so far this season as a running back, defensive back and punter, and Davison is hoping his two-sport standout to continue doing so against Glenbrook.
“We’re just happy to have gotten that win and show that we’re making some progress,” Davison said. “Jabari (Levingston) had a great game against Ringgold with five touchdowns — four running the football and another on a pick six for 58 yards.
“It was great to see him continuing the success he’s had week by week. He’s had success in pretty much every game we’ve played this season, and that’s not bad for a kid who came off the basketball court to play football, too, this season. He’s become a pretty good sparkplug for us.”
The Panthers will be facing a spread offense, the same scheme they faced last week at Ringgold, as they take on Glenbrook.
And that’s good news to Davison.
“We saw it against D’Arbonne Woods and we saw it against Ringgold,” Davison said. “We’re ready for the spread. The only offense we’d be concerned about is Wing-T. That’s the one that’s given us some trouble, really hurt us a lot. But we expect Glenbrook to come out and do what they do out of the spread, and we just faced that last week against Ringgold.
“So, we know we have the defensive secondary to handle it. Now we just have to show it.”
Davison said the key for his Panthers will be the mental part of the game that will include handling mobile Glenbrook quarterback Ryan Reagan.
“If we can get everybody to just read their keys and do their jobs, I’ll think we’ll be OK,” Davison said. “It’s about focus and execution for us. When we do that, we’re a pretty good team. When we don’t, we struggle. I mean, it’s probably that way for all teams. But when we don’t focus and don’t execute the way we need to, that’s when we get into trouble.
“Their quarterback runs the ball pretty well. We just have to contain him and make them try to run the football. Keep them out from hurting us with their passing game. If we can slow down that spread and stop them on the run, then we should have a pretty good chance.”
Lincoln Prep started a new quarterback last week as Josh Kelly, who transferred from Texas before the school year began, took over behind center with Zion Hicks moving to tight end/receiver, the offensive role he played for the Panthers last season.
“He did a pretty good job last week stepping up and taking over the quarterback position and has done a good job in practice this week,” Davidson said of the sophomore who’s expected to make his second start as the Panthers’ QB. “I’m excited to see what he does this week. He’s the kid that’s been kicking our field goals and extra points in the last few games.”
“Playing him at quarterback lets us use all of our resources,” Davison said. “He helps keep Zion (Hicks) a little fresher in his role as free safety, but using Josh at QB also gives us the chance to use Zion, and his height and his ability, at receiver or at tight end. And Josh can run some, too. He scored a touchdown last week. So that just gives us another weapon we can use. So, I think using him at quarterback works out perfect for us.”
