By T. Scott Boatright
It’s not the size of the dog in the fight but the size of the fight in the dog.
That philosophy has long been used by football coaches on all levels to motivate their players.
Lincoln Prep coach Chaunce Davison is hoping it’s a philosophy his Panthers take to heart as they play host to Shreveport’s Booker T. Washington in a game set for a 7 p.m. kickoff at Panthers Field.
The Class 4A Lions stand at 3-1 with wins over Arcadia, Benton and Southwood, while the Class 1A Panthers enter the game at 2-2 with wins over Delhi and Block and losses to Bastrop and Jonesboro-Hodge.
Davison, whose Panthers lost at Class 3A Bastrop 24-8, said playing higher-classified teams is all part of a plan he feels can prepare his team before starting its District 1-A season next week against Arcadia.
“That’s the reason the schedule is set up the way it is,” Davison said. “I feel like when we play teams like this — when we play up — it’s going to help us out in our district season. That’s one of the reasons we put teams like OCS (Oct. 9), Booker T. Washington and Bastrop on our schedule. So, that’s the plan.”
Davison’s Panthers will be trying to fight off the aftereffects of last week’s 42-20 loss at Jonesboro-Hodge, a game that remained tight, even tied at 20-20 until the final seconds of the third quarter, before it all fell apart in the final 12 minutes.
During his on-field talk to his team after that game ended, Davison told them they needed to focus on getting off to a strong start in this week’s practices.
That request was fulfilled Monday and Tuesday before the Panthers took a step backward during Wednesday’s workout.
“We had two good days,” Davison said of Monday’s and Tuesday’s practices. “But then we had a setback (on Wednesday). And Thursday, we only do a walk-through sort of thing. We’re trying to put this thing together. We’re trying to find the right pieces to make this thing go.
“Some of the kids just weren’t focused (on Wednesday). I don’t know if it’s the weather or what, but we have to learn to play with full focus every practice and every game with no letup.”
Davison said he needed to see that focus shown by his Panthers during Thursday’s practice.
“It’s a mental thing,” Davison said. “We need to stay focused no matter what we’re doing. Just mental reps to make sure we know what we’re doing and that we’re all on the same page with the same full focus.”
Lincoln Prep’s leading rusher, sophomore Jakaylon Armstrong, has been hampered the past couple of games with a lingering ankle injury.
Davison said Armstrong is unlikely to play against BTW.
“I think we just need to sit him and let him rest in hopes of getting him back for the district season,” Davison said. “That’s what’s important.
“The thing is, we have other weapons we can go to, too. We showed flashes of that before it all fell apart on us late in the game at Jonesboro. And that’s what I mean when I talk about us needing to learn to play an entire game from start to finish. If we can do that, we have some weapons to get past Jakaylon’s injury. It’s all about focus.”
And it’s focus that Davison needs to see tonight against the Lions for the duration of the contest.
“We have to keep continuing to improve. We did OK last week for three quarters but didn’t play an entire game. We need to see better this week. We need to see effort. We need to see intensity.
“And we need to see that for the entire game.”
