By T. Scott Boatright
The timing is perfect for the Lincoln Preparatory School football team — a fresh start to begin postseason play after an up-and-down, mostly down in recent weeks, regular season.
Lincoln Prep, the No. 24 seed in the Division IV Select School bracket, travels to ninth-seeded Cedar Creek, the team that defeated the Panthers 49-14 last week, for a game kicking off at 7 p.m. at Cougar Stadium.
The Panthers enter the game at 3-7 and have suffered four straight losses, while Cedar Creek stands at 9-1.
“It’s a new season,” said Panthers coach Chaunce Davison. “The regular season is over — it’s done. Everything is fresh and new. Hopefully we have learned a lot this season and with the fresh start can get moving in a new direction — the right direction.
“We know we’re a better team than our record. We know we’ve made mistakes that have cost us games. I’m hoping it’s something our players have learned from. We’ve played a tough schedule. We played up in class (a 24-8 loss at Class 3A Bastrop and a 54-6 loss against Class 4A Booker T. Washington). Three teams from our district (1-1A) are also in the playoffs (Cedar Creek, Haynesville and Glenbrook). We played that kind of schedule to get us ready for the playoffs.”
Injuries haven’t helped the Panthers’ cause. Starting quarterback Josh Kelly was lost for his senior season after suffering a torn ACL during Lincoln Prep’s spring scrimmage in May. Top running back Jakaylon Armstrong was averaging 128.3 rushing yards per game before being lost to a high ankle sprain that ended up requiring surgery early in the season.
Senior defensive standouts Nicholas Nelson and Sheldon Holmes both missed games while in concussion protocol.
“That’s an unfortunate part of the game,” Davison said. “Those are the things you have to try to overcome. I wish those injuries didn’t happen, but they did. But they did, and we’ve got to deal with it. Next man up. That’s the only way you can handle that kind of situation.”
But despite those injuries, the Panthers still have weapons, starting with junior Jabari Levingston, who moved from his role as Lincoln Prep’s No. 1 running back to quarterback after Kelly was injured.
And Levingston has given his all and then some this season, throwing for 1,020 yards while adding another 925 yards with his legs, totaling 25 touchdowns in the process, with one coming on an interception return.
Levingston connected on 8 of 12 passes for 201 yards while adding 92 rushing yards and touchdown runs of 9 and 1 yards last week against Cedar Creek.
“Jabari has so much talent and is such a hard worker,” Davison said. “If he has a bad point, it’s that sometimes he tries too hard and thinks too much. But the effort is always there — 100%. We just need him to stay calm and stay focused and not worry about what happened last week.”
Davison knows his Panthers will need a better performance this week to stand a chance of pulling off the upset against the Cougars.
“Cedar Creek’s line dominated,” Davison said of last week’s game. “We started strong, but eventually their offensive and defensive line took over. We can’t allow that to happen this week. We need to stay focused the entire game and not make the mental mistakes — the penalties — that hurt us last week.”
Defensively, the Panthers are led by sophomore Howard Kirkpatrick Jr., who had 26 tackles, four coming behind the line of scrimmage, while also blocking a kick last week.
Kirkpatrick leads Lincoln Prep this season with 10.5 tackles per game.
“He plays older than his year and bigger than size (5-foot-9, 170 pounds),” Davison said of Kirkpatrick. “I wish all of our players had the same kind of intensity he does. He’s the kind of player who can turn a game around. He tried last week. Hopefully that intensity rubbed off on his teammates and they’ll come out that way this time.
“Because that’s what we’re going to need. We already know how good Cedar Creek is. But I believe our team is good, too. I think this team can beat anyone on any given night. It’s a new season. I just hope they come out and show just how good they are. Just come out and compete.”
