By T. Scott Boatright
Lincoln Preparatory School will be looking for its first football postseason win since 2021 as the 19th-seeded Panthers play at 14th-seeded Central Catholic in a Division IV Select School showdown set for a 7 p.m. kickoff today at Morgan City Stadium.
The last time the Panthers faced Central Catholic, the school then known as Grambling Lab fell 60-38 in the opening round of the 2015 Division IV playoffs.
“It’s been a great week with great practice and good attention spans and focus,” Hall said. “Now we just have to get there and see what we’re going to do.”
Hall said he isn’t concerned with the way his Panthers will handle the long trip down south to Morgan City.
“We’re leaving at 10 (a.m.),” Hall said. “I’m going to break the trip up. We’ll stop in Lafayette and feed the team at 1:30 (p.m.). We’ll be there in Lafayette for about an hour to an hour-and-a-half, and then get on the bus and make the 1:15 or so drive down to Morgan City.
“It should be around 4:30 to 4:45 (p.m.) when we get there. They’ve got locker rooms and everything down there, so we’ll let the team kick back and just relax for a good hour and then just go out and warm up. That should give us ample time for their food to digest and ample time to get their legs back after the long bus ride.”
Hall said he will call one audible from the way the Panthers usually handle road trips.
“I don’t think the long bus ride is a big deal,” Hall said. “I talked to the team about it and told them if they went to bring a sleeping bag and pillows and sleep in the center aisle or across the seats, that’s good.
“The only change is that I normally make my guys wear a shirt and tie on road trips, but I’m not doing that this time because it’s just so far.”
Hall said the Eagles run a spread offense but tend to run from the formation more than throw.
“They try to spread you out so they can run the ball,” Hall said. “They do a lot of wanting you to chase the rabbit type of stuff. The quarterback runs a lot and they do throw a lot of screens.
“It’s not misdirection, they’re conventional. They just try to move quick and find the gaps. They’re not really big, but they play hard. And they play in a tough district, so they’ve faced some good football teams.”
Hall said he likes the way his team matches up against the Eagles.
“I think we match up great against them,” Hall said. “We just need to do what we do best, and that means lining up and handing the ball up to (D’Tavion) Wright, go Wildcat and let D. Wright hand off to (Jaylin) Huntley, Verlanski Glosson and Sam Williams or D. Wright running behind those three in a Full House backfield.
“We’ll throw some quick screens to our receivers, Cenario (Wilson) and (Trey) Spann. I think we’ve got a good chance to come home with a win. As long as we stay focused, I think we’ll be there in the end.”
Lincoln Prep (7-3) will be looking for another high-octane output from its offense.
The Panthers are coming off a 40-8 home win in their regular season finale against Arcadia and their seven wins have come behind scoring 24 or more points in all of their wins.
Over their last five games, Lincoln Prep has averaged 35.8 points per game.
Central Catholic lost to Covenant Christian Academy, the third seed in the Division IV Select School playoffs, at home by the score of 25-7 eight days ago and head into the playoffs with a record of 5-4-1.
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