Lumberton is off to its first 0-4 start since 2015. It’s almost uncharted territory for a program that has since won 63 games since 2016.
However, history proves that Lumberton can overcome an 0-4 start as the Panthers finished 8-6 back in 2015 and reached South State.
“We’ve been preaching to our kids very hard this week along with the rest of the coaches that everything that has happened until this point, the good, the bad, whatever, being 0-4, you can throw out the window,” Lumberton coach Jonathan Ladner said. “We start division play, and everybody 0-0. These are the games that are the must-win games now for us.”
Ladner certainly hopes that can be the case as the Panthers open region play this week against undefeated Resurrection Catholic (3-0). As far as history goes, it’s worth pointing out that back in 2015, Lumberton lost to Resurrection in South State, and it was also the Panthers’ only loss in region play that year.
Resurrection’s win came against North Forrest, St. Patrick and Stringer; all three teams have a combined record of 3-8, with the Eagles outscoring them a combined 86-13.
“They are very sound on what they do on defense,” Ladner said. “They are gap sound and play hard. Offensively, they are vanilla. They do what they do. It’s going to be our job to stop them. They are well-coached. You can tell they are coached by some older and experienced coaches just by the way they carry themselves and the thing they do. They are very polished on what they do.”
The Eagles rely heavily on Daniel Pickens, who has run for 386 yards, averages eight yards per carry and has scored four touchdowns. Pickens also has three catches for 109 yards and a touchdown. Quarterback Max Askey has also tossed for 387 yards and four touchdowns.
“He’s a special player,” Ladner said. “Watching the film that we have on him, he has broken off some long runs. He has made some great catches. They try to get him the ball in a bunch of different ways. It’s one of those deals where we have to know where he is lined up for every play when we are on defense. We have to make sure that he’s accounted for in coverage and that our interior linemen and linebackers are doing a good job of stopping the run.
“Defensively, they base out of a 5-2 (front). They are a typical Resurrection team. They are great tacklers. They are sound at what they do. We are going to have to do a good job offensively this of engaging and staying on our blocks and creating some holes that are going to be difficult.”
Lumberton will hit the road to face Lumberton at 7:30 p.m. Friday.
“This is kind of our division rival, so to speak,” Ladner said. “It’s been kind of back and forth between them and us for several years. I know in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018, we had some good ball games with them. We embrace it. We like playing them because we know what we are going to get out of them. They know what they expect out of us. Maybe we can get the ship steered back in the right direction, and maybe we can get back on the right side of things and be 1-0 in the division.”
