By T. Scott Boatright
The Lincoln Preparatory School football team faces a second consecutive big-time District 1-1A challenge as the Panthers play host to Haynesville at 7 p.m. on Panthers Field.
Lincoln Prep stands at 3-4 overall and 1-1 in district play, while Haynesville heads into the showdown at 5-1 overall and 2-0 in District 1-1A play.
The Golden Tornado are coming off a 50-6 win over Arcadia, with their lone loss coming in the season opener against Ouachita Christian, 42-6.
OCS defeated Lincoln Prep 65-12 last week.
Panthers coach Chancy Davison said his team knows the challenge it will face against the Golden Tornado.
Before becoming Lincoln Prep, the school operated as Grambling State University Laboratory High School. Over the decades, Haynesville and Grambling Lab met frequently in fierce regular-season and playoff matchups.
Haynesville took a close 24-18 victory in 2009, while Grambling Lab also enjoyed its share of success in the rivalry, including a 70-0 shutout of the Golden Tornado.
“It’s Haynesville,” Davison said. “I’ve been wanting that win against them since I was in high school and we lost to them 13-12. That’s something I would love to do — get a win over Haynesville. We played tight against them last year until they eventually pulled away. But I would love to get that win against them.
“We just have to compete. And to do that, sometimes you have to rest, so that’s why we didn’t practice (on Thursday). Let them kind of reset and get their minds together and right and get ready to play.”
Davison said his players probably don’t realize the rich history his team has on the gridiron against Haynesville.
“I don’t know if our kids really know the history,” Davison said of the rivalry he feels with Haynesville. “Our kids — kids today — are more focused on their future and what they’ve got going on than thinking about the past. We have generations of people in Grambling that played against Haynesville. We try to share it with them, but I don’t think they really know the history and what it means.”
Not only will the Panthers be facing a juggernaut in the defending state champion Golden Tornado, but they’ll also do so short-handed.
“We’re trying to make sure these boys can get healthy,” Davison said. “We’ve got several players out, a couple with concussions. (On Wednesday), defensive tackle Nick Nelson suffered one. He won’t be with us. And Sheldon Holmes has been out a couple of weeks after suffering a concussion in a game. He made it to the sideline and fell out. So we’re down two of our big linemen.
“All we can do is go out there and play our best game against a good Haynesville squad. We’ve got to scheme and do what we need to do. It’s next man up. You can’t cry about it. You just have to put another kid out there and let them try to show their worth and from there.”
Davison knows the next three weeks will mean much to a team fighting for solid playoff seeding.
“If we can win two out of these next three games against Haynesville, Glenbrook and Cedar Creek, that would be big,” Davison said. “And I believe there’s a chance that could happen. I think we could win all three. I just need my players to believe that.
“Now, if we were healthy, I’d feel better about facing Haynesville this week. But if we can get the majority of our players who will be out for Haynesville healthy for the two games after that, I think we can compete with anyone. But we’ve got our hands full with all three of these last (regular season) games.”
